An experimental study on ultrasonic-assisted drilling of Inconel 718 under different cooling/lubrication conditions

Abstract

Ultrasonic-assisted drilling (UAD) is one of the efficient and innovative methods to improve the drillability of difficult-to-cut materials. In the present study, the UAD of Inconel 718 was investigated under different cooling and/or lubrication conditions. The drilling tests were carried out at a constant cutting speed (15 m/min) and a feed (0.045 mm/rev) using uncoated and TiAlN-coated solid carbide drills under dry, conventional cutting fluid (CCF), and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions. The applicability of UAD to drilling Inconel 718 was evaluated in terms of thrust force, surface roughness, roundness error, burr formation, subsurface microstructure and microhardness, tool wear, and chip morphology. The test results showed that, when compared to conventional drilling (CD), UAD reduced the thrust force and improved the hole quality, tool life, and surface integrity under all conditions. Good surface finish, lower roundness error, and minimum burr heights were achieved under CCF conditions. MQL drilling provided lower thrust forces, better tool performance, and good subsurface quality characteristics. In addition, the simultaneous application of CCF-UAD and MQD-UAD showed significantly better performance, especially when using the coated tool.