Ultrasonic Assisted Machining for Hard-to-Cut Materials

This study presents new machining types of advanced materials. Super alloys, ceramics and fiber reinforced plastics started being used on a large scale in the last period, this making necessary the development of new machines and machining processes. This paper describes different methods of ultrasonic machining and makes a comparison between them. By ultrasonic machining can be understood a process that involves axial vibrations with a high frequency and low amplitude, for improving the machining conditions like chip flute removal, tool wear and temperature reducing. In this paper, are presented three different ultrasonic machining methods. In the first one, the cutting process is made by abrasive slurry inserted between the tool and the workpiece, in the second one is made by a rotating diamond-brazed tool and in the last one is made by a special drill. This paper aims to study the current status in this field in order to make a research program through collaboration between the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and the tool company Gühring KG by which to develop ultrasonic drilling.