Tribological viewpoint of the cutting force in rotary ultrasonic vibration-assisted side milling (RUVSM)

This study proposed a novel method to explain the reduction of cutting force in rotary ultrasonic vibration-assisted side milling (RUVSM) from the angle of tribology. Experiments, including practical machining and cutting simulation, were carried out to study the relationship among ultrasonic power, friction coefficient and cutting force. Specifically, cutting force and sonic signal were measured during machining and the cutting forces were calculated under different friction coefficients in the cutting simulation. Furthermore, an analytical method was developed to estimate the reduction of friction coefficient with ultrasonic vibration and further to predict the reduction of cutting force to some degree under different machining parameters. Specifically, the coulomb static model was introduced for the calculation and the vibration characteristics of the spiral milling tool were obtained by the finite element method (FEM).