Structural Optimization of Rotary Ultrasonic Assisted Machining Equipment for Ceramic Materials

Ceramic materials are widely used in all walks of life, because of their excellent thermal stability, insulation and wear resistance. However, there are still drawbacks in machining process of ceramic materials, such as low production rate and poor processing accuracy. Therefore, grinding method and equipment are urgently needed to meet the current demand. Rotary ultrasonic assisted machining is an advanced technology to solve the above problems. However, in the design of the equipment, it is easy to ignore the dimensions of the groove of the front cover, the chamfer of the rear cover and the position of the tool head. Accordingly, the vibration frequency and amplitude of the rotary ultrasonic-vibration system would be affected, resulting in poor processing efficiency. Under the Newton’s law, the external dimensions of rotary ultrasonic-vibration system are designed, while the variation rules of the dimension parameters of front cover plate and the rear cover plate and tool head on rotary ultrasonic-vibration characteristics are analyzed by using finite element method. When the distance of the tool head is 6 mm, the groove width of the front cover is 14 mm and the back cover is not chamfered, the frequency of the rotary ultrasonic-vibration system is 20.5 kHz, while the amplitude at the end of the tool head is 21.346 μm and the machining performance is optimal.