journal of materials processing technology 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 200205 journal homepage: Comparison of slurry effect on machining characteristics of titanium in ultrasonic drilling R. Singha, J.S. Khambab a Mechanical preferably those with low ductility (Koval Chenko et al., 1986; Kremer et al., 1988; Moreland, 1988) and hard- ness above 40HRC (Verma et al., 2003; Dornfeld et al., 1999; Ezugwa and Wang, 1997; Gilmore, 1990), e.g. inorganic glasses, silicon nitride, etc. (Thoe et al., 1998; IMS, 2002; Khamba and Singh Rupinder, 2003; Benedict Gary, 1987; Haslehurst, 1981; Pentland and Ektermanis, 1965). In this process tool is made of tough material, oscillated at frequencies of the order of 2030Kc/s with amplitude of about 0.02mm. An abrasive fi lled fl uid fl ushed through the gap between master and work piece. The material removal mechanism involves both erosion and grinding (Benedict Gary, 1987). The principle of stationary ultrasonic drilling has been shown in Fig. 1.The tiny abrasive chip off microscopic fl akes and grinds a counterpart of face. The work material is not stressed, distorted or heated because thegrindingforceisseldomover2lb(IMS,2002).Thereisnever any tool to work contact, and presence of cool slurry makes this a cold cutting-process. The tool used for machining has been prepared by sil- ver brazing process (Singh, 2002). The amplitude of vibrations given to the tool also infl uences the cutting rate (Khamba and Singh Rupinder, 2003). It has been found that the material removal rate is affected by amplitude of oscillations, size of abrasive (Singh, 2002; Singh and Khamba, 2007a). There are number of applications of ultrasonic drilling, ranging from the fabrication of small holes in alumina substrates, to engraving glassware, to drilling large holes through laser blocks (IMS, 2002). Fig. 2 shows the three-dimensional view of ultrasonic drilling using either a magnetostrictive or piezoelectric trans- ducerwithbrazedandscrewedtooling.Ithasbeenobservedin experimentationusingaluminaasslurryandTITAN15aswork material,materialremovalratefi rstdecreaseswithinincrease in power rating (from 150W to 300W) and than increases from 300W to 450W of ultrasonic drilling machine (USM) (Khamba and Singh Rupinder, 2003). Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of ultrasonic drilling, t=penetration in to tool, w=penetration in to work piece. Fig. 2 Three-dimensional pictorial view of USM. In the present experimental set-up the typical value ofamplitudeandfrequencyofvibrationusedwere 0.02530.0258mm and 20kHz200Hz. This experimental study has been conducted with the objective to understand material removal rate and tool wear rate comparison of TITAN15 and TITAN31 (having different composition, dif- ferent toughness) when drilled ultrasonically; with three different types of slurries, namely silicon carbide (SiC), boron carbide (B4C), and alumina (Al2O3) (each of 320 grit size). The pure titanium TITAN15, has ultimate tensile strength of 491MPa (chemical analysis: C, 0.006%; H, 0.0007%; N, 0.014%; O, 0.140%; Fe, 0.05%; Ti, balance) and titanium alloy TITAN31, has ultimate tensile strength of 994MPa (chemical analysis: C, 0.019%; H, 0.0011%; N, 0.007%; O, 0.138%; Al, 6.27%; V, 4.04%; Fe, 0.05%; Ti, balance). The machining was performed on 500W Sonic-Mill, ultra- sonic drilling machine at three different power ratings (i.e. at 150W, 300W and 450W), based upon pilot experimentation. Three conventional tool materials namely stainless steel (SS), titanium (Ti) and high-speed steel (HSS) have been used as tool combinations with titanium as work material to fi nd out material removal rate (MRRs) and tool wear rate (TWR) at fi x slurry concentration and temperature. The slurry concentra- tion was fi xed at 15vol.% and slurry temperature at 25.7C (room temperature). An experimental set-up having a provi- sion for variation in the process parameters was designed and fabricated. Fig. 3 shows work piece dimensions. The dimen- sions of the tool were decided keeping in view the limitations of the horn shape to economize the machining operation (Fig. 4). 2.Experimentation The experiments have been conducted in six set-ups. In the fi rstset-up,experimentwasperformedtodeterminetheeffect 202journal of materials processing technology 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 200205 Fig. 3 Detailed drawing of the work piece. on TITAN15 of SS tool using alumina slurry of 320 grit size; at 15%concentrationindistilledwaterassuspensionmedia.The experiment started by setting power rating of the machine at (30% of 500W) 150W of ultrasonic drilling machine. The ini- tial weight of titanium work piece that is of TITAN15 and tool that is of SS was measured. Then machine was allowed to drill for fi xed depth of 1mm with constant slurry fl ow rate and slurry temperature. The depth was closely watched using dial gauge. Correspondingly, time taken by USM for drilling was measured using stopwatch. After machining was com- pleted, work piece and tool weight was measured for fi nding difference in weight loss. Corresponding material removal rate and tool wear rate were calculated at 150W, 300W, and 450W (30%, 60% and 90% of 500W). In the fi rst set-up two more experiments were set using TITAN15 work piece SS tool with B4C slurry and SiC slurry, respectively. Fig. 5 shows the trend of MRR and TWR of TITAN15 work material with SS tool at different power rating of machine used. The second set-up involved machining of TITAN31 work piece by SS tool at three settings of ultrasonic power rating Fig. 4 Detailed drawing of the tool geometry (Singh and Khamba, 2007a,b). Fig. 5 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN15 and tool SS). Fig. 6 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN31 and tool SS). with Al2O3, B4C and SiC slurry. Corresponding MRR and TWR were plotted (refer Fig. 6). The third and fourth set-up covered machining of TITAN15 and TITAN31 work piece by Ti tool at three settings of ultrasonic power rating with Al2O3, B4C and SiC slurry. Corresponding MRR and TWR were plotted (refer Figs. 7 and 8). In the fi fth and sixth set-up machining of TITAN15 and TITAN31 work piece by HSS tool at three settings of ultra- sonic power rating with Al2O3, B4C and SiC slurry has been performed. Corresponding MRR and TWR were plotted (refer Figs. 9 and 10). journal of materials processing technology 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 200205203 Fig. 7 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN15 and tool Ti). 3.Results and discussion From repetitive number of experiments conducted under six different set-ups, the comparative results have been plotted. FromFig.5,ithasbeenobservedthatMRRofTITAN15isoverall lower than TWR while using SS tool with Al2O3slurry. How- ever trend for MRR in all three experiments of fi rst set-up were similar. The increase of MRR with increase in power rating of machine is quite obvious because of higher value of power rating abrasive particles strikes with more momentum and kinetic energy with work piece. Hence more erosion of work piece but in certain cases, with increase in power rating, MRR decreases which may be because of strain hardening of work piece. The increase of tool wear rate with increase in MRR and Fig. 8 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN31 and tool Ti). Fig. 9 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN15 and tool HSS). Fig. 10 MRR and TWR vs. power rating using (W/P TITAN31 and tool HSS). power rating is quite obvious but sometimes TWR decreases withpowerratingincrease/increaseinMRR;thereasonforthis isagainstrainhardeningoftoolsurface.Theselectionofslurry type for MRR of TITAN15 in this case comes out as unimpor- tant factor. However better tool properties were obtained with Al2O3slurry. As regards to machining of TITAN31 with SS tool the trend for MRR and TWR were different from previous case of TITAN15 with SS tool (refer Fig. 6). The main reason for this variation may be strain hardening of work piece/tool material at specifi c ultrasonic power rating based upon its mate- rial/chemicalcompositioncharacteristics.Thebestparameter setting for machining of TITAN31 with SS tool has been observed at 300W with B4C slurry. 204journal of materials processing technology 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 200205 Fig. 11 Photomicrograph of the machined surface showing comparison of the conventional machining and ultrasonic machining; magnifi cation: 100. Ultrasonic machined surface (Ra 0.46), conventionally machined surface (Ra 0.8). In the next set-up while using titanium tool it has been found that for TITAN15; MRR showed insignifi cant effect of slurry type, where as for TITAN31 choice of slurry has come out as important factor. The best settings have been attained with B4C slurry at 300W for TITAN31. The fi fth and sixth set-up highlighted machining with HSS tool for TITAN15 and ITAN31 work piece. The trend obtained for MRR and TWR in fi fth and sixth set-ups is almost similar for Al2O3and B4C slurry, but for SiC some variation has been observed. Overall B4C slurry comes out as better option. This may be because of better work piece and tool combinations based on relative hardness of tool and work piece for specifi c machining conditions. Fig. 11 shows the surface of an ultrasonically machined titanium sample exhibits a non-directional surface texture whencomparedwithaconventionallymachined(ground)sur- face. These refi ned grain structure, resulting from ultrasonic machining, can give better strength and mechanical proper- ties. The results agree with experimental observations made otherwise (Singh and Khamba, 2006, 2007b; Jadoun et al., 2006). 4.Conclusions From the experiment following conclusions can be drawn: 1. Titanium is well machinable using ultrasonic drilling machine. It is not always necessary that if work piece with higher toughness value is machined, it will have less MRRratheritiscombinationeffectofmaterialcomposition (hardness of work piece) relative of tool and work piece. Less TWR and better MRR can be attained by using spe- cifi c tool, work piece combination at specifi c power rating values and controlled experimental conditions like slurry type. 2. Best results have been obtained with SS tool and boron car- bide slurry. These results show close relationship between the experimental observations made otherwise (Singh and Khamba, 2007b). 3. No major fatigue problems were encountered with the stainless steel, titanium and high-speed steel tool, any chipping/fracture generally being due to tool/hole mis- alignment during fabrication. 4. The verifi cation experiments revealed that on an average there was 34.46% improvement in MRR, for the selected work piece (TITAN15 and TITAN31). references Benedict Gary, F., 1987. Non Traditional Manufacturing Processes. Marcel Dekker, Inc, pp. 6786. Dornfeld, D.A., Kim, J.S., Dechow, H., Hewsow, J., Chen, L.J., 1999. Drilling burr formation in titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. Ann. CIRP 48, 7376. Ezugwa, E.O., Wang, Z.M., 1997. Titanium alloys and their machinabilitya review. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 68, 262274. Gilmore, R., 1990. Ultrasonic Machining of Ceramics, SME Paper MS 90-346, p. 12. Haslehurst, M., 1981. Manufacturing Technology, 3rd ed. Arnold, Australia, pp. 270271. Instruction Manual for Stationary SONIC-MILL 500 W Model, 2002. Sonic-Mill, USA. Jadoun, R.S., Kumar, P., Mishra, B.K., Mehta, R.C.S., 2006. Ultrasonic machining of titanium and its alloys: a review. Int. J. Mach. Mach. Mater. 1 (1), 94114. Khamba, J., Singh Rupinder, S., 2003. Effect of alumina (white fused) slurry in ultrasonic assisted drilling of titanium alloys (TITAN 15). In: Proceedings of the National Conference on Materials and Related Technologies (NCMRT), pp. 7579. Koval Chenko, M.S., Paustovskii, A.V., Perevyazko, V.A., 1986. Infl uence of properties of abrasive materials on the effectiveness of ultrasonic machining of ceramics. Sov. Powder Metall. Metal Ceram. 25, 560562. Kremer, D., Mackie, J., Ultrasonic, 1988. Machining applied to ceramic materials. Ind. Ceram. 830, 632637. Moreland, M.A., 1988. Versatile performance of ultrasonic machining. Ceram. Bull. 6, 10451047. Pentland, E.W., Ektermanis, J.