Experimental and Simulation Analysis of Transient Temperature in High-Speed Ultrasonic Vibration Cutting Ti-6Al-4V

In the processing of titanium alloys, high temperatures at cutting interfaces lead to poor machinability and reduced machining efficiency. High-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting (HUVC) offers an improvement in heat dissipation compared to conventional cutting (CC), yet it loses its cooling advantage as cutting speeds further increase. To optimize efficiency, this study investigated transient cutting temperature variations using experimental measurements and finite element method (FEM) simulations to elucidate the cooling mechanisms in HUVC. An eroding junction thermocouple, along with stringent electromagnetic insulation measures, was employed to capture transient temperature changes with microseconds. The maximum discrepancy between measured and simulated temperatures in CC was found to be 13.8%, validating the feasibility of the FEM method for experimental supplementation and theoretical analysis in HUVC. The results indicated that HUVC reduced cutting temperatures by up to 40.7% compared to CC, with minimal differences in peak temperatures between HUVC and CC at identical cutting speeds. The cooling advantage in HUVC is attributed to temperature declines observed during the interface separation. The maximum temperature reduction ratio increased significantly from 40.9% to 77.1% with the rise in vibration amplitudes. Besides, an increase in tool clearance was found to improve cooling conditions in both CC and HUVC. This study introduced a novel method for ultrasonic temperature measurement in metal cutting, thereby advancing the understanding of cooling mechanisms at cutting interfaces in HUVC. Furthermore, modified process parameters were provided to achieve high-performance HUVC in machining difficult-to-cut alloys.