Investigation on machinability of SiCp/Al composites under the synergistic effect of pulsed laser assisted and ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting

While SiCp/Al composites are widely used in engineering applications owing to their excellent material properties, the traditional machining of SiCp/Al composites remains challenging, mainly in terms of poor surface quality and severe tool wear. In this study, a multi-energy field assisted cutting method—pulsed laser-assisted ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting (PLA-UEVC)—for precision and high-efficiency machining of SiCp/Al composites is introduced. In this method, the intermittent impact cutting effect caused by the tool's ultrasonic frequency elliptical vibration, pulsed-laser-induced material-generated thermoelastic excitation effect, and transient temperature field synergistically work together to enhance the machinability of SiCp/Al composites. Temperature-field simulations were first utilized to simulate the temperature under suitable pulsed laser parameters. Comparative experiments with different volume fractions and particle sizes under different machining methods were conducted to evaluate the advantages of the proposed composite energy field-assisted machining method in terms of chip modulation, surface quality improvement, and tool performance improvement. The experimental results show that multi-energy field assisted cutting achieves better chip control and obtains shorter, easier-to-break chips than traditional cutting, pulsed laser-assisted cutting, and ultrasonic vibration-assisted cutting. The cutting forces of the three industrial-grade SiCp/Al6061 composites with different material properties were significantly reduced (by more than 55 %), with a surface roughness of less than 30 nm obtained for all three composites, effectively suppressing surface defects such as particle failure, thermal damage, and residual height caused by tool vibration. In addition, multi-energy field assisted cutting effectively minimized the abrasive and diffusive wear of the tool and reduced the adhesion phenomenon on the back face of the tool. These findings provide an important theoretical basis and practical machining guidance for multi-energy-field synergistic machining to improve the machinability of SiCp/Al composites.