Submerged Machining

Stanley J.Ng, D. T.Le and Guangming Zhang

Department of Mechanical Engineering & Institute for Systems Research

University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Introduction

A New Method which employs the concept of submersion as an adapted conventional technique to machining of ceramics. In this investigation, a device is designed and constructed so that the ceramic material to be machined is placed in a bath filled with cutting fluid. During machining, the cutting tool removes material in an environment where the supply of cutting fluid is sufficient. By controlling the type of cutting fluid and three machining parameters, namely depth of cut, feed, and cutting speed, the temperature in the cutting zone and the tribological effects on the tool-workpiece and tool-chip interfaces are brought into action of material removal. It has been observed that the submerged machining environment promotes stress-corrosion-cracking through high penetration induced by chemical reactions. Experimental results strongly support the potential of using submerged machining to improve quality and efficiency of the machining operation.
Submerged Machining Device and Dynamometer