Experimental study on cutting force and surface quality in ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling of C/SiC composites

Carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide matrix (C/SiC) composites are typical difficult-to-cut materials due to high hardness and brittleness. Aiming at the problem of the serious high cutting force and poor surface quality in conventional milling (CM) C/SiC composite process, ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling (UVAM) and conventional milling tests with a diamond-coated milling cutter were conducted. The results showed that reducing the feed per tooth, cutting depth, or increasing the cutting speed can reduce the average cutting force, and increasing the ultrasonic amplitude, the average cutting force decreases first and then increases. With the assistance of ultrasonic vibration, the maximum reduction rates of average cutting forces Fx, Fy, and Fz were 43.7%, 29.16%, and 68.09%.The ultrasonic vibration assisting effect does not significantly improve the damage of materials such as fiber breakage during processing. The ultrasonic vibration assisting effect improves the quality of processing edges. It is found that reducing feed per tooth, cutting depth, or increasing cutting speed can reduce surface roughness and increasing the ultrasonic amplitude reduces the surface roughness first and then increases. On the whole, the surface roughness of C/SiC ultrasonic vibration milling is slightly smaller than that of conventional machining.