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Ultrasonic and electrical discharge–assisted milling of the Ti-6Al-4 V alloy

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Abstract

The ultrasonic and electrical discharge–assisted milling (US-EDAM) is a new machining method designed for machining difficult-to-cut materials. It combines two machining technologies: electrical discharge machining (EDM) and conventional milling with ultrasonic vibration. The EDM in the proposed method is used to soften the surface of the material to be machined and thereby reduce the cutting force. In the meanwhile, the ultrasonic vibration of the proposed method is used to improve the discharge efficiency of the EDM and reduce the cutting force. Likewise, the milling in the present method is used to remove the workpiece’s EDM-softened surface accurately and quickly. The effects of different machining methods (including the conventional milling (CM), the ultrasonic-assisted machining (USM), the electrical discharge–assisted machining (EDAM), and the US-EDAM) on the machined material’s surface topography, plastic deformation, microscopic appearance, surface microhardness, and residual stress on the surface were compared for different machining parameters. The results confirmed that the EDM in the US-EDAM softened the surface of the material to be removed and reduced the cutting force. Furthermore, the ultrasonic vibration assistance in the US-EDAM reduced the cutting force with intermittent cutting. Notably, the surface integrity of the machined workpiece under the US-EDAM was better than the ones under the other machining methods. Hence, the US-EDAM demonstrated its capability as a new hybrid machining combining EDM, ultrasonic vibration assistance, and milling.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (grant number NRF-2020R1A2B5B02001755). Furthermore, we acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51905169 and 51775184), the Hunan Education Department Project (18C0323), and the HUNST Project (E51781).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Precision Machining Laboratory Room 214, School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea

    Moran Xu, Rendi Kurniawan, Chen Jielin, Ye In Kwak, Saood Ali, Min Ki Choo & Tae Jo Ko

  2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Precision Machining of Difficult-to-Cut Materials, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, ** Li

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  1. Moran Xu
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  2. Chang** Li
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  3. Rendi Kurniawan
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  8. Tae Jo Ko
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Contributions

Moran Xu: writing—original draft, conceptualization, methodology, software, and formal analysis. Chang** Li: conceptualization, supervision, and methodology. Rendi Kurniawan: measurement, supervision, and data analysis. Jielin Chen: software, and validation. Ye In Kwak: project administration, and validation. Saood Ali: validation. Min Ki Choo: project administration. Tae Jo Ko: conceptualization, resources, supervision, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Rendi Kurniawan or Tae Jo Ko.

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Xu, M., Li, C., Kurniawan, R. et al. Ultrasonic and electrical discharge–assisted milling of the Ti-6Al-4 V alloy. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 122, 1897–1917 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-10010-y

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