Machining performance of Al3003 alloy during ultrasonic vibration-assisted turning

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted turning (UVAT) is emerged to obtain improved machining performance during the machining process. In this article, experimental work is conducted to analyze machining performance during the conventional turning (CT) and UVAT operations for aluminum 3003 alloy. The microhardness, chip morphology, microstructure, machining temperature, surface roughness, cutting force, tool wear, machined surface damage, corrosion behavior, and residual stresses are analyzed and compared between CT and UVAT. Outcomes revealed that compared to CT, lesser machining force, lesser tool wear, higher temperature, lesser roughness, and lesser surface defects are observed during the UVAT operation. Segmentation, higher thickness, and cracks in chips are obtained for the CT operation whereas negligible chip segmentation, smaller chip thickness, smooth chips, and crack-free chips are observed for the UVAT operation. More grain refinement in microstructure is observed, and higher microhardness is obtained for the UVAT operation compared to the base material (BM) and the CT operation. Compressive residual stresses are attained in UVAT than tensile residual stresses for CT. The corrosion resistance is improved to about 55% in the UVAT operation than the CT operation. The outcomes showed that the machining performance of aluminum alloy is enhanced for UVAT compared with CT.