Ultrasonic cavitation assisted Fluid Jet Polishing

Abstract

There is a demand for improving the removal rate of Fluid Jet Polishing to polish hard materials used for artificial joints or rough surfaces of additive manufactured products down to ultra-precision condition. The existing method of directly adding compressed air into the slurry has a problem that machining accuracy is degraded. In this research, we proposed a new method of adding cavitation bubbles by ultrasonic into the slurry jet. Acoustic and fluid dynamics simulations confirmed that the cavitation bubbles generated in the nozzle can reach the surface of a workpiece before disappearing.