Vibration Cutting

a means of working metal by cutting in which the tool is vibrated relative to the workpiece, in addition to its basic movement. Vibration cutting is used to break up shavings, in working difficult materials (stainless and heat-resistant steels), and in cutting materials by vibrating saws and shears.

Low-frequency vibrators with mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic drive (the frequency of the induced vibrations does not exceed 50 hertz [Hz]) are used for crushing shavings.

When working conditions are constant and the cutting stress is low, the natural oscillations resulting from the cutting process itself can also be used as the source of the vibration. For vibration cutting of hard-to-work materials, magnetostrictive, magnetomechanical, piezoelectric, electrodynamic, electric-hydraulic, and hydraulic vibrators, in which the frequency of the induced vibrations is greater than 100 Hz, are used. A column of fluid serves as the energy-transmitting link between the saddle and the vibrator. This increases the life of a high-frequency vibrator, since it eliminates bearings, couplings, and other parts that normally wear out rapidly. Such vibrating saddles are not very large, but they produce considerable useful force—that is, they have high specific power. Depending on the gearing and the particular characteristics of the cutting process, high-frequency vibrators may be one-component (vibrations in one direction), two-component (vibrations in a plane), or three-component (spatial vibrations).

In vibration cutting with crushing of shavings, the vibrations are applied axially (in the direction of the feed); efficient and reliable operation is obtained in processing a surface to the fifth or sixth grades of finish with the given accuracy and tool hardness. The basic characteristics of vibration cutting with axial vibrations are a great change in the depth of cut over one tool vibration cycle and a great change in the cutting angle for a small increase in cutting speed.

In vibration cutting, vibrations for the purpose of machin-ability may be applied tangentially in accordance with the circumferential component of the cutting speed. The use of tangential vibrations is accompanied by a periodic increase in the circumferential speed with a variable effect on the layer being cut at virtually constant sections of cutting, feed, and cutting depth.

When used in work with vibrating saws and shears, vibration cutting produces good edge quality and a marked in-crease in productivity.

Vibration cutting does not use gearing systems providing radial vibrations, since they lead to a sharp deterioration in the grade of surface finish.

The basic technological conditions for the effective use of vibration cutting include the correct choice of vibration parameters (amplitude and frequency).

V. V. DANILEVSKII