PROCESS PARAMETRIC STUDY OF MACHINING OF METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE BY USM/D PROCESS [ULTRASONIC MACHINING/DRILLING

Abstract

The rising level of our technology puts impetus on us to use application specific material and thus increase the efficiency of the system. Composites have, become a very important application specific material due to our control over them by which we can get the desired property. Among the different type of composites MMCs are getting a special attention due to its ductile behavior which is not shown by the any other types of composites. But due to its improved properties like high ultimate strength etc. it presents a great challenge to machine it using conventional methods. The solution to this difficulty is given by various Unconventional methods like USM, EBM, ECM, etc. but they all have there certain advantages and disadvantages now its on us to decide which process would be appropriate according to the material properties and application. Out of all the unconventional processes USM gives us the machining without any change in the microstructure, mechanical properties or any chemical reaction and its non hazardous working condition add feather to its cap. This ability of USM that not to interfere with the original properties and microstructure of the material increases its importance in the aviation field where a failure can occur just because of the changed microstructure. This report has been written as an attempt to have a-brief knowledge about MMCs and have a better understanding of USM process. This study is an attempt to present USM as a better option for machining of Al-SiC MMCs. The work uses A1(6061)- SiC(10%) PRMMC as a work material and AP-500 watt stationary USD machine. In this study the process parameter have been optimized using Taguchi's L18 orthogonal arrays. The analysis is done and presented in form of graph between effect of process parameter and signal to noise ratio and quality characteristic. ANOVA has been applied to find percentage contribution of each process parameter. The mean and range of various quality characteristics is presented and confirmation runs are performed to test it. The last chapter of this report presents the conclusion and scope for future work.