Zirconia ceramics are often used in electronics, aerospace, biomedicine, and other fields because of their excellent mechanical and optical properties; however, as they are hard and brittle materials, they are highly susceptible to cracking and chipping during processing. Ultrasonic elliptical vibratory-assisted cutting (UEVC) is a promising ceramic processing technology that addresses existing problems in materials processing. In this study, the critical depth of cut (\begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document}) of zirconia ceramics was predicted using two models, focusing on the influence of the circular edge of the tool and tool front angle in the actual machining process. Subsequently, a model was established based on the specific cutting energy to predict the \begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document} of zirconia ceramics in UEVC machining. A simulation software was used to simulate the variable depth of zirconia ceramics using the constitutive improved Johnson-Holmquist ceramic (JH-2) model. Finally, the relationship between the cutting speed and \begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document} of zirconia ceramics under conventional cutting (CC) and UEVC machining was investigated using scribing experiments. The results showed that the \begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document} of zirconia ceramics decreased nonlinearly with increasing cutting speed. The \begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document} of zirconia under CC is 0.8 μm, whereas the \begin{document}$ h_{{\text{c}}} $\end{document} values of zirconia under UEVC machining are 1.79, 1.75, 1.45, and 1.3 μm with a maximum increment of 124%, which corroborates the results predicted by the model, verifying the effectiveness of the model and simulation.
The full text can be downloaded at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-025-00562-z
Jie-Qiong Lin
,
Ming-Qi Guo
,
Shi-Xin Zhao
,
Ming-Ming Lu
,
Shuai-Jie Zhai
,
Yu-Cheng Li
. Modelling and experimental study on brittle-to-ductile transition during ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted cutting of zirconia ceramics[J]. Advances in Manufacturing, 2026
, 14(2)
: 437
-451
.
DOI: 10.1007/s40436-025-00562-z
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