Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371

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Precision Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precision

Development of a tertiary motion generator for elliptical vibration texturing

Ping Guo a, , Kornel F. Ehmann b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Room B110, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Room A215, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The elliptical vibration texturing process is an innovative machining method for the fast generation
Received 15 May 2012 of textured surfaces. It adds a tertiary motion component to the tool tip, which introduces deliberate
Received in revised form 20 August 2012 elliptical vibrations between the cutting tool and the workpiece. The elliptical locus lies in the plane that
Accepted 9 October 2012
is dened by the cutting direction and the radial direction in the turning operation. This paper proposes
Available online 23 October 2012
a new design for a resonant mode 2D tertiary motion generator (TMG) that can deliver the required
elliptical trajectory at an ultrasonic frequency. The device works in the resonant mode, with tangential
Keywords:
and normal vibrations at a nearly identical resonant frequency. Simulation and experiments were carried
Elliptical vibration texturing
Elliptical vibration cutting
out to perform a modal analysis of the system. Different design parameters were adjusted to achieve large
Tertiary motion generator vibration amplitudes in both tangential and normal directions. The elliptical vibration texturing process
Modal analysis was implemented by integrating the newly developed TMG into a turning operation. Preliminary test
Langevin transducer results of dimple array patterns are presented that validate the performance and principle of the proposed
Piezo actuator design.
2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction provide nanometric surface nish without requiring post-

processing operations as compared to laser ablation. It increases
Surface textures have a decisive impact on the functional per- the geometric accuracy since it eliminates remounting and further
formance of products. Proper patterns on structured surfaces operations that degrade accuracy. Currently, however, the only way
could dramatically improve their optical, mechanical, thermal, and to machine 3D micro-features is by 5-axis NC controlled machin-
biological properties [1]. These structured surfaces usually have ing. Although this method is very accurate, the processing time is
periodic patterns with micro/meso-scale features that cannot be not acceptable for mass production.
fully described by conventional surface topography parameters, From the analysis above, it is evident that currently there is
such as roughness and waviness. Applications of structured sur- limited ability to accurately machine micro-structure features on
faces include friction reduction, heat exchange, optical gratings, 3D free-form surfaces, especially at a mass production scale. The
superhydrophobic surfaces, etc. limitations in various existing processes for micro-texturing call
How to accurately and efciently generate micro-structures on for a novel machining process, which motivates this paper.
engineered surfaces are a big challenge as well as a timely research The objective of this paper is to implement an innovative
topic. At the micro-scale, laser ablation is favorable for its exi- machining method for the fast generation of textured surfaces: the
bility, but it is usually limited to the prototyping stage because of elliptical vibration texturing process. The core part of the problem is
its high cost and long processing time. It is also limited to non- the development of the tertiary motion generator (TMG) that can
transparent materials and needs further post-processing. The micro generate elliptical vibration trajectories at ultrasonic frequencies.
forming method is ideal for mass production; however, it has dif- The paper is organized as follows: rst, the elliptical vibration tex-
culties with high strength and brittle materials. Besides, how to turing process is introduced. Then the development of the TMG
manufacture the molds with micro features remains a problem. is described in detail along with a simulation and experimental
Micro-machining is well suited at this length scale. It offers analysis. Finally, preliminary experimental results using this newly
signicant advantages for its exibility to process all work mate- developed process are presented and followed by conclusions.
rials [2]. Micro-machining with diamond tools, for example, can
2. Elliptical vibration texturing process

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 847 467 1851; fax: +1 847 491 3915. The elliptical vibration texturing process originates from the
E-mail addresses: [email protected], surface-shaping system proposed by Hong and Ehmann [3]. It adds
[email protected] (P. Guo), [email protected] (K.F. Ehmann). to the cutting tool tip a tertiary motion component, which is a

0141-6359/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.precisioneng.2012.10.005
 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371 365

Fig. 1. Principle of the elliptical vibration texturing process.

higher order motion superimposed on the conventional primary

and secondary, i.e., cutting and feed motions. It introduces delib-
erate and controllable vibrations between the cutting tool and the
Fig. 2. Illustration of the elliptical vibration texturing process in cylindrical turning
workpiece. The principle of process is shown in Fig. 1. The cutting operations.
tool vibrates along a prescribed trajectory with amplitudes of sev-
eral microns (e.g., an elliptical trajectory as shown in the gure). The
non-resonant TMG works in a continuous frequency range. The res-
resultant tool path imposes textures, i.e., dimples, onto the work-
onant TMG is able to achieve a higher operating frequency and
piece surface. The shape and pattern of the texture depend on the
is more energy efcient, but a precise control of the trajectory is
shape of the vibration trajectory (the tertiary motion), the cutting
more difcult owing to the nature of the resonant vibrations and
speed and feed rate (primary and secondary motions), as well as on
the phase lag between the excitation and mechanical response. The
tool geometry.
non-resonant TMG is not limited to a xed operating frequency and
This process is inspired by the idea of the elliptical vibra-
offers a more precise control of the motion. It also has the poten-
tion assisted cutting (EVC) process. Early EVC processes utilized
tial to create an arbitrary motion trajectory for complex texture
one-dimensional vibrations in the cutting direction, turning the
patterns. It is, however, very difcult to achieve a high operat-
continuous cutting process into an intermittent process. The vibra-
ing frequency because of various technical problems involved. The
tion frequency is usually in the ultrasonic regime, ranging from
scope of this paper focuses on the development of the resonant
20 kHz to 50 kHz. Moriwaki and Shamoto [4] rst applied one-
mode TMG.
dimensional ultrasonic vibration cutting to turning operations.
They were able to machine ferrous materials by diamond tools and
to achieve optical quality surfaces. Later, they have proposed the 3.1. Literature review
idea of EVC, which introduces tool vibrations in both the cutting
and chip ow directions in the orthogonal cutting model [5]. This The current state-of-the-art design of a resonant mode TMG,
arrangement signicantly reduces the instantaneous chip thick- which generates an elliptical trajectory, lies in the elds of EVC and
ness and brings various benets such as reduced cutting forces, ultrasonic motors. A resonant transducer that produces elliptical
better surface nish, burr suppression, and longer tool life [410]. vibrations at ultrasonic frequencies was developed by Moriwaki
The EVC process also offers advantages in the ductile-regime cut- and Shamoto [6]. The system is shown in Fig. 3(a). Piezoelectric
ting of brittle materials. It remarkably increases the critical depth plates are attached to four sides of a beam. The bending modes
of cut, below which the brittle material deforms plastically and in both horizontal and vertical directions are excited by applying
forms a crack-free surface [11,12]. Kim and Loh [13] have applied alternate sinusoidal voltages to the four piezoelectric plates. Two
the EVC process to machining micro-channels and pyramidal pat- bending vibrations with proper phase difference cause the diamond
terns. Their results have shown signicant improvements in surface
quality and form accuracy.
The cylindrical turning operation shown in Fig. 2 depicts the
difference between the EVC and the elliptical vibration texturing
process. Unlike the EVC process, the elliptical vibration texturing
process adds vibrations in the cutting and radial directions, while
in the EVC process the vibrations are in the cutting and feed direc-
tions. The radial vibration dictates the texturing process by varying
the cutting depth in the turning operation. The vibration in the cut-
ting direction gives the possibility for generating more complicated
texture shapes and patterns. It also brings the benets of vibration
assisted machining into the texturing process, which could lead to
the texturing of brittle materials.

3. Development of a resonant mode 2D TMG

The design of the TMG is the key technological problem in

the implementation of the elliptical vibration texturing process.
There are two possible working principles for the design: the
resonant mode and the non-resonant mode. Each working prin-
ciple has its own advantages and limitations. The resonant TMG Fig. 3. Traditional resonant transducer designs: (a) Moriwaki and Shamotos design
works at discrete natural frequencies of the system structure; the [6] and (b) Lis design [7].
366 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371

cutting tip to vibrate along an elliptical locus. The vibration ampli-

tudes are 4 m in both directions; and the natural frequency is
20 kHz. Li and Zhang [7] developed an ultrasonic elliptical vibra-
tion transducer using a single piezoelectric actuator. The radially
asymmetric structure results in a longitudinal-bended compound
vibration mode (shown in Fig. 3(b)). The transducer generates
vibration amplitudes of 16 m in the cutting direction and 2 m in
the feed direction at its natural frequency of 22.5 kHz. Kim and Loh
[13] developed an elliptical vibration generator for micro-grooving
applications. The device is excited at 18 kHz, producing vibration
amplitudes of 2 m 1 m. There is also a commercial EVC device,
EL-50, available from Taga Electric Co., Ltd., which generates vibra-
tion amplitudes of 4 m at 39 kHz [14].
The design proposed in the current work was inspired by the
design of Kuribayashi Kurosawa et al. [15] of an ultrasonic motor.
Similar designs, also based on Kurosawas concept, were developed
by Zhang et al. [16] and Asumi et al. [17] who further miniaturized
this design. Design based on this concept could produce large vibra-
tion amplitudes in a compact size; however, these devices were
specically designed for ultrasonic motor applications by focusing Fig. 4. Design of the TMG.
on the maximal output speed, force, and mechanical power. In sur-
face texturing applications the shape and vibration amplitudes of
the elliptical locus are more important. The complex mechanical structure of the device leads to mul-
tiple vibration modes. The two main vibration modes associated
3.2. Design and principle of operation with the exure structure are the tangential (Fig. 5(a)) and the nor-
mal direction vibrations (Fig. 5(b)). The tangential vibration mode
The current design is composed of two bolt-clamped Langevin occurs when the longitudinal vibrations of the two transducers are
transducers. Each transducer includes two PZT rings. The PZT rings out of phase. The anti-phase mode causes asymmetric vibration of
have an outer diameter of 14.5 mm, an inner diameter of 7 mm and the exure accompanied by large shear deformation in the exure
a thickness of 5 mm. The PZT materials are of Navy Type I and man- structure. The normal vibration mode occurs when the two longitu-
ufactured by NTK technologies, Inc. The CAD model of the device is dinal vibrations are in phase. The in-phase mode causes symmetric
shown in Fig. 4. The base block connects two transducers to provide vibrations of the exure that result in motions of the tip along the
a xed node. Each transducer is a standard Langevin transducer normal direction. In order to generate an elliptical trajectory, the
connected at one end by a head block (exure structure). The angle transducers are carefully designed and adjusted such that the above
between the two transducers is held at 60 in the present design two vibration modes occur approximately at the same frequency.
to reduce its overall size. The envelope dimension of the ultrasonic Several factors determine the resonant frequencies and the
device is about 100 mm 100 mm 40 mm. Two end masses at the vibration amplitudes of the device. The mass distribution of the
other end of the transducers provide the preload to the PZT rings. system predominantly determines the natural frequencies and the
The diameter of the end mass is xed at 15 mm. The length of the mode shapes. This is thoroughly analyzed by nite element simu-
end mass serves as a control parameter to adjust the natural fre- lation in the following section. Assuming that the main structure
quencies of the system and is optimized to be 37 mm. The head of the device remains unchanged, the length of the end mass and
block serves as a tool holder, as well as a clamp for the PZT rings. the cutting insert used could tweak the performance of the device.
The exure hinge design in the head block helps to amplify the The structural damping is another important factor that has a major
vibrations in the tangential and normal directions and minimizes effect on the vibration amplitudes and a minor effect on the nat-
the motion in the thickness direction. ural frequencies; however, the actual damping ratio is difcult to
The TMG works in the resonant mode. The two symmetric quantify. The preload applied on the PZT rings is one parameter
Langevin transducers are driven by harmonic signals at the nat- that changes the damping ratio of the structure. There exists an
ural frequencies of the system. The longitudinal vibrations of the optimum range of the preload for maximal vibration amplitudes.
two transducers are joined and magnied by the exure structure The last factor is the nature of the excitation signals, namely the
of the head block leading to tool tip movements along elliptical excitation amplitudes and the relative phase angle between the
trajectories. two inputs. It impacts the vibration amplitudes and phase angle

Fig. 5. (a) Tangential vibration mode shape, (b) normal vibration mode shape, and (c) spurious mode shape.
 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371 367

Table 1
FEM simulation and modal test comparison.

Simulation (kHz) Experiment (kHz)

1st tangential mode 12.96 13.0

1st normal mode 32.37 28.0
2nd tangential mode 32.41
Spurious mode 22.90 24.3

32.41 kHz). In the experiment, these two modes are so coupled that
they cannot be differentiated in frequency. This resonant frequency
for both the 2nd tangential and 1st normal modes is recorded at
28 kHz, which deviates about (15%) from the simulation results.
This is due to: (1) the simplication in the FEM model, including
the simplied geometry and the missing damping ratio; (2) the
asymmetry in the actual device due to the cutting insert and man-
ufacturing tolerances; (3) the pre-stress effect on the PZT rings,
which is not included in the simulation. Despite of the difference
in resonant frequencies from the experimental results, the simula-
tions provide useful indication on how closely the 1st normal and
2nd tangential modes are coupled.
Fig. 6. Sine sweep response: (a) tangential direction and (b) normal direction. At the resonant frequency of 28 kHz, the system vibrations
possess both the normal and tangential modes. These coupled res-
onant vibrations generate the desired elliptical locus at the tool
between the two vibration outputs and, thus, changes the shape of tip. In order to obtain large vibration amplitudes in two directions,
the elliptical trajectory. This paper focuses on the analysis of the the normal and tangential mode frequencies should be as close
rst and the third factor, namely, the mass distribution and excita- as possible. This is achieved by adjusting the most suitable design
tion signals, through simulation and experimental assessment. parameters, namely, the length of the end mass. The resonant fre-
quencies of the normal and tangential modes change at a different
4. TMG modal analysis rate, when the length of the end mass changes. So, there exists
an optimum length at which the two resonant frequencies cross
Finite element method (FEM) simulations and experiments each other. This condition was studied through FEM simulations
were conducted to identify the different vibration modes of the described next.
TMG. In the natural frequency extraction simulations, the encas- The simplied CAD model of the TMG combines the cutting
tre boundary condition was applied to the bottom side of the base insert and the tool holder. The equivalent tool is attached to the
block. Two main resonant frequencies of the system associated with head block and takes the length of 11.5 mm (this length is dened
the exure structure were identied in the analysis and veried as the equivalent tool length). The length of the end mass is taken
through experimental evaluations. There is also a spurious mode as the control parameter in the natural frequency extraction analy-
associated with the tool tip [17]. In this mode, the exure structure sis. The frequencies of the two tangential modes and of the normal
is not excited, but the tool tip vibrates in a direction perpendicu- mode in question are recorded and plotted in Fig. 7. The general
lar to the tangential and normal directions as shown in Fig. 5(c). trends of the resonant frequencies show a decrease as the length of
This mode is not desirable in the current application but its effect the end mass increases. The 1st normal and 2nd tangential modes
is negligible. are very close to each other in their respective resonant frequencies
From the simulation results, the rst resonant frequency occurs when the end mass length is in the range of 3540 mm. The current
at 12.96 kHz. The mode shape contains only the tangential vibration design is based on 37 mm, which is in the optimal range.
mode (Fig. 5(a)), which is referred as the 1st tangential mode. The
1st normal vibration mode, Fig. 5(b), is found at 32.37 kHz while
the 2nd tangential vibration mode, Fig. 5(a), at 32.41 kHz. The lat-
ter two mode shapes have similar frequencies. The spurious mode,
shown in Fig. 5(c), is found at 22.90 kHz from the simulation and is
identied at 24.3 kHz in the experiments.
A sine sweep test was performed by applying sinusoidal excita-
tion signals with continuously varying frequency. The frequency
range was chosen to be from 5 kHz to 35 kHz. The vibration
responses in two directions were recorded and analyzed by FFT. The
results are plotted in Fig. 6(a) and (b). The rst and third peaks in
the tangential direction response correspond to the 1st and 2nd tan-
gential modes. The second peak in the normal direction response
corresponds to the 1st normal mode. The second peak in Fig. 6(a)
and the rst peak in Fig. 6(b) are the spurious mode. These results
are in accordance with the FEM analysis. The comparison between
the simulation results and experimental observations is listed in
Table 1. Here only the tangential and normal modes are of interest.
The simulation results match very well with the experiments for the
1st tangential mode. At the 2nd tangential and 1st normal modes,
the simulated resonant frequencies are very close (32.37 kHz and Fig. 7. Inuence of end mass length on the resonant frequency.
368 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371

Fig. 8. Inuence of tool length on the resonant frequency.

The tool length also affects the vibration behavior of the device. Fig. 9. Experimental setup.
When the end mass length is set at 37 mm, by varying the equiva-
lent tool length in the simulation, the resonant frequencies of the data are recorded using the same data acquisition card (NI PCIe-
three different modes are plotted in Fig. 8. The general trend is sim- 6361) at a 500 kHz sampling frequency.
ilar to the previous one, i.e., the resonant frequency decreases when
the tool length increases. The current value of 11.5 mm of the tool 5.2. Performance analysis
length is around the optimal, as dened by the point where the two
lines of the resonant frequencies cross each other. The performance of the TMG was evaluated through measure-
ments of the tool tip trajectory at its natural frequencies. By the
5. TMG performance assessment sine sweep test, two major peaks associated with the normal and
tangential modes were found as predicted by the simulation. The
5.1. Experimental setup systems displacement response in two directions at its 1st res-
onant frequency of 13 kHz is shown in Fig. 10(a). The tangential
The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 9. The excitation sig- vibration amplitude is 26.17 m; and the normal vibration ampli-
nals are generated by a National Instrument data acquisition card tude is 7.95 m. The 2D trajectory is then plotted and tted to an
(NI DAQ PCIe-6361), which has two analog outputs. The output sig- ellipse function, as shown in Fig. 10(b). The ellipse has a major axis
nal is sampled at 1.5 MHz to ensure the necessary smoothness. The of 28.74 m, a minor axis of 1.03 m, and a tilt angle of 17 . The
phase difference between the two excitation signals can be set arbi- vibrations in two directions have nearly a 180 phase shift. This
trarily using the Labview program. The excitation signals are sent anti-phase vibration reduces the ellipse locus to a straight line,
to a piezo amplier (TREK PZD 350), which has a 0 to 350 V bipo- which agrees with the simulation results that state that only tan-
lar output and a fast response given by a 500 V/s slew rate. The gential mode vibrations occur at the 1st natural frequency. The tilt
high-voltage two-channel sinusoidal signals (Vpp = 625 V) are sup- angle of the trajectory is caused by the asymmetry in the design of
plied to the two Langevin transducers. The motion of the tool tip the tool tip and tool holder.
is monitored by MicoSense capacitance sensors, whose range of At the resonant frequency at 28 kHz the vibration modes include
measurement is 100 m. The sensor has a sub-nanometer resolu- both tangential and normal vibrations resulting in comparable
tion and 100 kHz bandwidth. An orthogonal block is placed into the vibration amplitudes in two directions as shown in Fig. 11(a).
insert holder as a target for displacement sensing. The vibration The tangential vibration amplitude is 8.79 m while the normal

Fig. 10. (a) Recorded displacement at 13 kHz and (b) vibration trajectory at 13 kHz.
 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371 369

Fig. 11. (a) Recorded displacement at 28 kHz and (b) vibration trajectory at 28 kHz.

vibration amplitude is 7.28 m. The trajectory is again tted into angle of 60 , while the normal vibration amplitude at 0 . These con-
an ellipse with a major axis of 11.09 m, a minor axis of 2.34 m, clusions agree with the analysis above. If the vibration trajectory
and a tilt angle of 39 (Fig. 11(b)). is approximated by an ellipse, the ratio between the major axis
The resonant vibration at 28 kHz is of particular interest, since over the minor axis is determined by the output phase shown in
it meets the requirements of an elliptical trajectory at an ultra- Fig. 12. A larger output phase angle indicates a smaller aspect ratio
sonic frequency for the elliptical vibration texturing process. The between the major and minor axes, which turns the locus more
vibration behavior at this natural frequency is further analyzed toward a circle (where the ratio becomes 1). At a 0 input phase
by changing the phase shift between the two excitation signals angle, the output phase angle is around 50 . The trajectory has the
but keeping the excitation frequency and amplitudes constant. The least aspect ratio and the area included in the ellipse is the largest.
results are shown in Fig. 12. The input phase shift affects the vibra- At a 150 input phase angle, the input phase angle is near 0 , which
tion amplitudes in both the tangential and normal directions. The turns the ellipse into a straight line.
tangential vibration amplitude reaches its maximum at a 60 phase
angle, which agrees with the V-shape angle of the TMG design. The 6. Preliminary test results
normal vibration amplitude reaches its maximum at the 0 phase
angle, since pure symmetric vibrations in the two transducers pro- The newly developed TMG was integrated into a desktop
duce the largest normal direction motions, which corresponds to milling/drilling/turning machine as shown in Fig. 14. The XY stage
the in-phase mode in the previous analysis. Different representa- with a resolution of 0.25 m in both directions carries the TMG
tive shapes of the elliptical trajectory are plotted in Fig. 13. The mounted on a four component Kistler dynamometer. The Z axis
tangential vibration amplitude has a maximal value at the phase supports a high speed air spindle and a linear stage with a 1.27 m
resolution. The machine is congured to operate as a lathe in the
vertical direction. The workpiece is loaded in the spindle along the
Z axis. The spindle provides the primary motion for the turning

Fig. 12. Input phase inuence on the vibration amplitude and phase. Fig. 13. Ellipse shapes at different phase inputs.
370 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371

Fig. 16. Surface topography of the textured surface.

In friction applications, for example, the dimple arrays expand the

range of the hydrodynamic lubrication regime and substantially
reduce the friction coefcient when compared to polished surfaces
[18].
The cutting tool used is a commercial diamond insert. The
Fig. 14. Turning machine conguration. workpiece material is aluminum 6061. The workpiece was rst
pre-turned without elliptical vibrations, and then textured with
operation. The linear motor in the Z axis controls the feed motion the tertiary motion generated by the TMG at 28 kHz at a spindle
while the XY stage sets the depth of cut. speed of 7500 rpm, feed rate of 60 m/rev and a nominal depth-of-
A closer look at the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 15. cut (DOC) of 2 m. The experimental conditions are summarized in
A special rotary xture is used to change the orientation of the Table 2.
TMG. The workpiece has a diameter of 3 mm (1/8 in.). Commer- As shown in Fig. 16, the elliptical vibration texturing process
cially available carbide and diamond inserts, whose nose radius generates arrays of dimple patterns on the machined surface. The
is 400 m and 200 m respectively, are used. The machine is con- dimple shape is a replica of the cutting tool geometry. The distance
trolled by a Delta Tau UMAC system, which is capable of controlling between dimples in the feed direction is determined by the feed
up to 32 axes simultaneously with a Turbo PMAC2 CPU running rate, which is 60 m in this case. The gap in the cutting direction is
at 80 MHz. A series of cutting tests were performed to verify the dened as:
concept of the process to fast generate structured surfaces in the NR0
turning operation. The machined surfaces were examined using a lcut = (1)
30f
Zygo white-light interferometer.
One example of the machined surfaces using the elliptical vibra- where N is the spindle speed; R0 is workpiece radius; f is the vibra-
tion texturing process is shown in Fig. 16. Such surfaces with tion frequency.
carefully designed dimple patterns can be applied in friction reduc- A surface prole along a line segment in the cutting direction
tion applications as well as for the creation of surfaces with is obtained, as shown in Fig. 17, which is compared to the the-
hydro-phobic/-philic, reective, antibacterial and other properties. oretical calculation based on the kinematics of the motion. The
schematic of the process is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The height pro-
le shows periodic peaks and valleys due to the elliptical vibration
of the cutting tool. The dimples are around 40 m apart in the cut-
ting direction, which is compared to the calculated value of 42 m.
The average depth of the dimples is 2.5 m. The differences in the
surface proles between the calculation and experiments, e.g., the
dimple depth and width, show that there is a large elastic recovery
during the cutting process. Another possible reason for the dif-
ference between the simulated and measured results is from the
process dynamics. The measured trajectory was recorded without
the cutting load. In reality the actual vibration amplitudes changed
due to the process damping for different cutting conditions [19].
Further investigations in the modeling of micro cutting mechan-
ics and system dynamics are needed to predict the actual surface
topography. A controller could be designed based on these models

Table 2
Experimental conditions.

Process parameter

Texturing Pre-turning

Spindle speed 7500 rpm Spindle speed 12,500 rpm

Feed rate 60 m/rev Feed rate 5 m/rev
Nominal DOC 2 m Nominal DOC 10 m
Fig. 15. TMG setup.
 P. Guo, K.F. Ehmann / Precision Engineering 37 (2013) 364371 371

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation

under Grant number DMI-0600175.

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performance of the TMG.