Development of Elliptical Vibration Cutting Technology and its Application to Ultraprecision/Micro Machining of Hard/Brittle Materials

Precision machining, named ‘elliptical vibration cutting’, and its application to ultraprecision / micro machining of some hard / brittle materials are introduced in the present paper. The elliptical vibration cutting has a superior cutting performance in terms of low cutting force, low cutting energy, low heat generation, long tool life for steels, sintered tungsten alloy, etc., and large critical depth of cut for ductile machining of brittle materials such as glasses and single crystal calcium fluoride, etc. Based on these basic advantages, practical ultraprecision / micro machining of the hard / brittle materials is successfully realized by employing the ultrasonic elliptical vibration tools, which have been developed for ultraprecision machining.