Ultrasonic machining (USM) is considered as an effective method for machining hard and brittle materials such as glass, engineering ceramics, semiconductors, diamonds, metal composites and so on. However, the low material removal rate due to using abrasive slurry limits further application of USM. Rotary ultrasonic machining (rotary USM) superimposes rotational movement on the tool head that vibrates at ultrasonic frequency (20 kHz) simultaneously. The tool is made of mild steel coated or bonded with diamond abrasive. Therefore, abrasive slurry is abandoned and coolant is used to carry debris out of working area. Compared with USM, rotary USM can obtain much higher material removal rate, deep holes, and fine precision, which leads to its further application. Combined with CNC technology, rotary USM can be used to conduct contour machining of hard and brittle materials. In this paper, the movement of abrasive particles in tool tip of rotary ultrasonic machining is analyzed. The impacting and grinding of abrasive in tool tip to machined surface are considered as main factors to material removal rate. The process of crack forming and growing in one loading and unloading cycle can be described as following stages: a) When abrasive particle acts the pressure on work-piece, the macro cracks in periphery of contact area are exerted increasing tensile stress. b) As the tensile stress increase to the critical of material tension, the one of cracks in periphery of contact area begins to propagate around contact area and develop beneath the surface to certain depth. c) Indentation area varies with increasing of load, the circle crack around contact area steadily or dynamical propagates towards inside of work-piece. d) As tensile stress in crack increases to critical of crack steady failure, circle crack suddenly becomes conic crack. e) Further increase load, the crack continues to grow while contact area is surrounded by conic cracks. f) During unloading, conic crack begins to close, some of cracks continue their extension towards the surface and forms a circle groove. The mathematical model for material removal rate shows that the factors affecting on material removal rate are static load, grid and concentration of abrasive, mechanical properties of machined materials, rotational speed of tool and feed speed of work-piece.
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