Abstract: Ultrasonic assisted machining has provided an efficient way for the precision machining of hard-brittle material parts manufacturing. With the study of ultrasonic machining deepening, the form of ultrasonic assisted machining is also increasing. A study on combination of radial ultrasonic vibration assisted and thin diamond sawing blade to saw optical glass material is presented. Firstly, using methods of Pro/E modeling and finite element analysis, two stage ultrasonic vibration horn that can realize the direction of axis-radial transition is designed and simulated. Then designed and manufactured the device of ultrasonic vibration sawing, which is used to make experiment of sawing optical glass to explore the effect of single grain maximum cutting thickness on sawing mechanism. The result shows that, during the process of ultrasonic sawing, the single grain maximum cutting thickness did not have evident effect on specific sawing energy while specific sawing energy decreased with the single grain maximum cutting thickness increased. It means that there is a certain relationship between the result and the material removal way of sawing optical glass. The material is more removed on brittle fracture mode in ultrasonic sawing, while the ultrasonic vibration reduces friction between the diamond saw blade and the workpiece in the sawing process, thereby reducing its energy consumption.

Key words: friction, optical glass, radial ultrasonic sawing, specific sawing energy, two stage horn