Preliminary design of two dimensional vibration assisted machining system for multi-axis micro-milling application

Vibration assisted machining (VAM) is a method that is widely used in improving the performance of machined products. External vibrations with high frequency to ultrasonic range along with an meso-micrometer amplitude are given to the cutting tool or workpiece. This will result in a periodic separation phenomenon, hence reducing the cutting force which has positive impacts on increasing tool life and machined surface quality. Among the high-precision machining processes, micro-milling which has the ability to produce complex components with 2D and 3D features, can also be applied with the vibration assisted method, known as vibration assisted micro-milling (VAMM). Based on the direction of vibration given in the machining process, there are 1D VAMM with linear vibrations and 2D VAMM with circular or elliptical trajectory vibrations. However to date, neither developed 1D nor 2D VAMM systems are still limited to the research of planar surfaces cutting using linear movement axes, meanwhile vibration assisted in inclination cutting of micro-milling using the rotational movement axes is still very rare. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary model in designing a 2D VAMM system for a 5-axis micro-milling machine. The system is powered using piezoelectric actuators as the vibration-producing actuators.