Design and Development of Cutting Fluid System Based on Ultrasonic Atomization for Micro-Machining

摘要

Tool wear in micro-milling poses a serious limitation to increased production rate, and atomized cutting fluids have been shown to be quite effective in increasing the tool life. This paper introduces three different generations of a cutting fluid application system based on ultrasonic atomization for micro-machining. Two performance measures have been defined in terms of spray characteristics, and experiments have been performed to evaluate the system according to the defined performance measures. Areas of improvement on the first generation system have been identified, and a second generation system is then designed and developed by addressing the limitations of the first system. The second generation system has also been evaluated based on the performance measures. Finally, the third generation system has been developed addressing the limitations of the previous systems on overall system size and nozzle designs.