The effects of ultrasonic vibration on surface finish and tool wear in end-milling machining

Conventionally, tool wear is very high or fracture when processing high hardness steel by milling method. So, we attempted to design a fixture apparatus for hybrid machining process (HMP) by ultrasonic vibration using finite element method. Now this fixture apparatus has been manufactured. We can do many types of hybrid machining experiments using this fixture. And then the milling machining was conducted to compare the effects of the ultrasonic vibration. The results showed that the tool wear and surface roughness with ultrasonic vibration was smoother than without the fixture vibration. This result could be explained as accelerating the heat transfer by ultrasonic vibration.