Development of a tertiary motion generator for elliptical vibration texturing

The elliptical vibration texturing process is an innovative machining method for the fast generation of textured surfaces. It adds a tertiary motion component to the tool tip, which introduces deliberate elliptical vibrations between the cutting tool and the workpiece. The elliptical locus lies in the plane that is defined by the cutting direction and the radial direction in the turning operation. This paper proposes a new design for a resonant mode 2D tertiary motion generator (TMG) that can deliver the required elliptical trajectory at an ultrasonic frequency. The device works in the resonant mode, with tangential and normal vibrations at a nearly identical resonant frequency. Simulation and experiments were carried out to perform a modal analysis of the system. Different design parameters were adjusted to achieve large vibration amplitudes in both tangential and normal directions. The elliptical vibration texturing process was implemented by integrating the newly developed TMG into a turning operation. Preliminary test results of dimple array patterns are presented that validate the performance and principle of the proposed design. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.