Study on design of conical arc side-edge milling cutter and cutting performance under ultrasonic-assisted condition

Ball-end milling cutters are commonly used in the finishing processes of curved-side milling for titanium alloys; however, several issues arise during machining, such as poor cutting conditions at the bottom of the end teeth, low cutting speeds, and limited chip space. Given the above issues, the research on the design and manufacture of conical arc side-edge milling cutter for titanium alloy processing was carried out in this paper; the mathematical model of the vital structure of conical arc side-edge milling cutter was established; the grinding trajectory equations of tool front and flank were deduced; the tool-workpiece kinematics of ultrasonic vibration applied to conical arc side edge was studied; and the comparative experimental study of the conical arc side-edge milling cutter cutting titanium alloy with and without ultrasonic vibration was carried out. The experiment results indicate that in comparison to conventional milling techniques, ultrasonic vibration cutting significantly decreases cutting force, plastic deformation of the chip, and wear rate of the flank face. The tool wear band is both longer and more uniform, bonding phenomena in titanium alloys are distinctly reduced, and tool performance is improved.