EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF ULTRASONIC MACHINING ON ALUMINA BIO-CERAMIC FOR STEPPED HOLE FABRICATION

Ultrasonic machining (USM) has immense potential for machining hard and brittle materials such as ceramics, bio-ceramics and glasses, etc. irrespective of electrical conductivity of the workpiece material. Alumina (Al 2O3) is very hard and brittle bio-ceramic material and highly biocompatible. It is very difficult to machine by any conventional machining process. For this reason ultrasonic machining is applied for these bio-ceramic materials. Stepped hole generation on the alumina implant is required for proper fitting in our chewing gum. This paper presents the study on the influences of ultrasonic machining process parameters such as abrasive grain size, power rating and tool feed rate on generated stepped hole profile. The material removal rate and accuracy of the job profile such as over cut of larger diameter (OLD) hole and over cut of smaller diameter (OSD) of the stepped hole profile have been studied. Based on experimental results, the influences of abrasive grain size, slurry concentration and power rating have been studied through graphical representation of the results.The experimental investigations carried out for determining the influence of USM process parameters will provide effective guideline to select parametric settings for achieving maximum material removal rate and desired job profile accuracy on stepped hole drilling operation on alumina.