A study of ultrasonic milling of high-strength ceramics used in manufacturing of components for aerospace hardware

The paper discusses the method for diamond milling of high-strength ceramics based on silicon carbide (SiC) with application of ultrasonic vibrations to the diamond tool. The difficulty of machining high-strength ceramics that is used for manufacturing components for aerospace hardware is due to its properties such as its high hardness and brittleness, and as the result at present there is no mature process for its machining. In order to conduct experiments in diamond machining, it was necessary to design and build an ultrasonic spindle (emitter), which make it possible to apply ultrasonic vibrations to the diamond tool. Preliminary experiments determined the effects of cutting modes and ultrasonic vibrations applied to the diamond tool on the machining process which was evaluated by the following parameters: surface roughness and precision, machining efficiency.