Analysis of material response to ultrasonic vibration loading in turning Inconel 718

The paper is focused on the analysis of the surface layer formed on a workpiece treated with ultrasonically assisted turning (UAT) in comparison to conventional turning (CT). Various experimental methods are used to study the difference between the two machining techniques: nanoindentation, light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental part of the paper studies the material response to CT and UAT in terms of material's hardness, residual stresses, and changes in the microstructure. The difference in the distribution of residual stresses in the machined surface layer is further studied by means of numerical (finite element) simulations. A three-dimensional thermomechanically coupled finite element (FE) model of both UAT and CT is used to study temperature distributions in the process zone and thermally induced stresses. Numerical results are compared with the obtained experimental data.