Executive Summary : | This proposal is driven by (a) role of ultrasonic vibration-assistance (UVA) to micro-turning, (b) significance of sustainable cooling, and (c) need for ultrasonic vibration assistance for machining additively manufactured difficult-to-cut alloys. The concept of applying ultrasonic vibration to conventional machining for improving the machining performance is in practice for more than two decades. Ultrasonic vibration parameters (frequency, amplitude etc.) and dimensions for the vibration (1D, 2D and 3D) have been in main focus. As the performance of an ultrasonic vibration system depends upon resonance frequency, amplitude, load on the tool etc., the design and development of such a system remain challenging especially in case of micromachining, as the tool size decreases carrying many issues related to cutting edge geometry, tool rigidity, and tool wear. A poor design of any hardware may lead to an extensive heat generation in the component making it ineffective. In this regard, a system is planned to develop to implement ultrasonic vibration in the micro-cutting process. Micro-turning, as one of the most important and commonly used mechanical micro-cutting processes, has been planned to attempt. The ultrasonic vibration-assisted micro-turning (UVAMT) mainly involves a frequency generator, transducer, booster, and horn. The design of the horn is a crucial part which is based on resonance frequency, load on the tool and desired amplitude. Additionally, the widely used conventional petroleum-based cutting fluids are not sustainable as they are harmful to human health and not easily biodegradable. Vegetable oil-based cutting fluids using MQL and cryogenic cooling such as liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) are sustainable and trend several benefits. Thus, flood and mist based sustainable cutting fluid is planned to be developed indigenously for applying to UVAMT to further enhance the micro machinability of materials. Although the concept of high frequency and small amplitude has a proven track record for machining the materials with high hardness and high wear and temperature resistance, the concept is not well explored for micro-cutting of additively manufactured (AM) alloys. It is observed that the AM alloys have machinability poorer than the conventionally manufactured alloys as they exhibit uncommon responses such as residual stresses, porosity, microhardness, etc. Looking at the essentiality of post-processing of AM alloys to make them usable, despite many available non-conventional machining processes, conventional UVA techniques are preferred. Approximately 75% of the postprocessing of the AM alloys is performed using the traditional UVA machining technique (Gomes et al., 2022). The developed system is planned to be implemented for AM alloys which are difficult-to-cut. So, the main objective is to Design and development of ultrasonic vibration-assisted micro-cutting technology under sustainable environments for additively manufactured alloys. |