Review of vibration assisted machining of titanium and nickel alloys

Titanium and Nickel alloys are widely used in manufacturing critical components in aerospace, automobile and marine industries because of their superior properties like high strength at elevated temperature, oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance. However conventional machining of these alloys are cumbersome as they cause tool blunting, unusual and rapid tool wear, work hardening, chatter vibration and high cutting temperatures, which results in cutting instability and poor surface quality. Vibration assisted machining (VAM) is a new machining technology that utilises high frequency (20-40 kHz) and low amplitude (20 μm) vibration to assist cutting and improve chip removal mechanism with high cutting stability. This technology has been applied to a number of machining processes like turning, drilling and grinding. Significant improvements in tool life and surface quality are observed in machining these aerospace alloys by VAM process. This paper provides a comprehensive review of VAM process and the benefits of vibration cutting in turning and drilling of Ti-6Al-4V and Inconel 718. In addition, approaches which can further improve and enhance the vibration cutting in machining process are also discussed.