Investigation of surface integrity in ultrasonic vibration-assisted minimum quantity lubrication milling of Ti-6Al-4V thin-walled parts

Titanium alloys exhibit many excellent properties, but they also present challenges such as high cutting forces, elevated cutting temperatures, and severe tool wear. Ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling (UVAM) is an advanced machining technique for titanium alloys that can effectively improve their machinability to a certain extent. This study further investigates the surface integrity of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy thin-walled part machined using a combination of minimum quantity lubrication and ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling (MQL-UVAM). The results show that, compared with UVAM, MQL-UVAM machines titanium alloy workpieces with lower surface roughness and more uniform surface textures. Specifically, surface roughness is reduced by 20.98%, residual compressive stress is increased by 9.49%, and machining-induced deformation is decreased by 34.94%. Therefore, compared to UVAM, MQL-UVAM can further enhance the surface integrity of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy thin-walled part.