Multi-dimensional ultrasonic assisted microscale scratching of Fe-Cr alloys

CS Song and DH Xiang and YQ Li and ZQ Zhang and SK Yang and GF Gao and XB Cui, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES, 305, 110806 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2025.110806

To investigate the impacts of ultrasonic application methods on the scratching characteristics and the microstructure evolution of materials, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation models of polycrystalline Fe-Cr alloys were established under different dimensions of ultrasonic vibration assisted scratching (UVAS), and the models were effectively verified through experiments. The results showed that amorphization, dislocations, and lattice distortion were the main forms of damage in Fe-Cr alloys during the scratching process. Compared with traditional scratching (TS), surface/subsurface damage was suppressed under different dimensions of ultrasonic vibration. The specific manifestation is that the normal force under 1D-UVAS reached an instantaneous maximum, and longitudinal ultrasonic vibration produced an instantaneous impact on subsurface atoms, which plays the most significant role in promoting the plastic deformation of the material. 2D-UVAS produced the smallest scratching force, and the planar impact effectively reduced the height of material accumulation. Meanwhile, the thickness of the near-surface amorphous layer was the lowest under 2D-UVAS, which helped improve surface quality. 3D-UVAS combined the characteristics of longitudinal impact and 2D planar impact, greatly inhibiting the generation of subsurface defects and showing the best plastic removal effect. This study is expected to provide a new technological approach for improving material processing quality, and further promote the more efficient application of ultrasonic vibration technology in precision machining.

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