Proc.

of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

60

Finite Element Analysis of Ultrasonic Stepped Horn

B.C.Behera
1*
, S.K.Sahoo, L.N. Patra, M.P.Rout
,
K.K.Kanaujia

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela 769 008, Orissa, India
*Corresponding author (e-mail: bikash.nitr@gmail.com)

Turning of modern high strength materials is conducted with ultrasonic vibration
applied in the different direction, midrib application in aviation industry. The
cutting performance of a machine depends on the ability of the design of the
acoustic horn to facilitate an increase in tool tip vibration, which is the use in
turning operation for improving the surface quality of the work piece and reducing
the cutting force and increase the tool life. In this paper, a computer aided design
for the horn profile and material, based on finite element analysis has been
established using ANSYS environment.

1. Introduction

The ultrasonic stepped horn design is complicated. Therefore, to understand ultrasonic
power transformer and determining the resonance frequency and amplitude at different
section of horn for tuning and clamping purpose, it is necessary to use finite element analysis
software, (ANSYS) to fully represent and model these factors. The power transfer of the
ultrasonic vibrating system, resonance frequency, vibration amplitude at different section has
set by adjusting the analysis parameters according to theory and experience. The stepped
horn has been used more extensively since it is easier to design and produce. More overs it
offers a higher amplification coefficient, though the local resonance phenomenon appears
Fan et al [3]. This phenomenon has studied in the light of the theory of coupled vibration.
Bngtsson et al [2] has identified local resonance demonstration of coupled vibration for
puny coupling. A further limitation of the traditional design method is that it does not take
account of the 3D effect. Finite element analysis (FEA) can be used to obtain a solution. By
employing FEA, the design of horns for conventional ultrasonic machining process was
studied to obtain the maximum magnification for higher rates of material removal and secure
working stresses for the horn material Amin et al [1]. A 3D finite element analysis of the
Langevin transducers behavior was presented, as well as the effect of coupling between
modes; the mode shapes for several aspect ratios were computed and plotted Iula et al [4]. A
simple model was developed to analyze the main dynamic features of ultrasonic horn. The
horn is modeled as a longitudinal rod with the contact conditions after verifying the modal
characteristics by using finite element analysis Lee and Hong [5]. Yadava, [6] have identified
FEM design procedure for the design of a horn was developed for rotary ultrasonic machining
(RUM).
In the present analysis, aluminum and plain carbon steel are used as a horn material
and natural frequency and amplitude of vibration are predicted at different section, using
modal and harmonic analysis.

2. Horn design

The primary function of the horn is to amplify the vibration of the tool to the level
required for effective machining, but it serves also as a means of transmitting the vibrational
energy from the transducer to the work piece: It does so by being in resonance with the
transducer. The design and manufacture of the horn require special attention because an
incorrectly manufactured horn will damage machining performance and can lead to the
destruction of the vibration system and cause significant damage to the generator [7]. Horns
are generally made of metals that have high fatigue strengths and low acoustic losses [8].
The metals most often used to construct horns are titanium, carbon steel, stainless steel, heat
treated steel and aluminum. Horns can be manufactured in various shapes and size. They are
all of circular cross-section. An important aspect of horn design is the calculation of the
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

61

correct resonant length, which length should usually be in multiples of half the wavelength of
the system. The calculation of the resonant length is relatively simple for the exponential
design. This design also gives good matching in terms of amplification. However, it is difficult
to manufacture and is seldom used, unless necessary. It is also easy to calculate the
resonant length for the stepped shape. This design gives high amplification but tends to have
stress concentrations at the junction where the cross-section changes. Stress concentrations
can lead to overheat and the formation of cracks and the alternating stresses developed are
also greater. Thus stepped horns are used only when the end-face amplitude is small [9]. The
sharp corners are usually rounded to reduce stress concentrations, with little effect on the
machining rate. The conical design is the most difficult in terms of calculating the resonant
length, but it can be manufactured easily. It has as good an amplitude matching as the
exponential type and is thus used commonly [7].

3. Horn length calculation
3.1 Exponential shape
The resonant length of a horn with the exponential shape is given by [10]:

2
1 l n
2
C N
L
f

| |
= +

|
t \ .

(1)
Where C is the wave speed, f is the natural frequency of the machine and N is the
diameter ratio D
1
/D
2
, which is also equal to the amplitude ratio. (D
1
and D
2
are the diameters
of the input and output ends of the horn, respectively. The wave speed C can be calculated
using
E
C =
p
(2)
3.2 Stepped shape

The resonant length of the horn of stepped shape is given by
1 2
4 4
C C
L K K
f f
= + (3)
To simplify the calculation, it is usual to assume the correction factors k
1
and k
2
be unity
[15]. Hence,
2
C
L
f
= (4)

3.3 Conical shape
The required length of a horn of conical shape cannot be calculated easily and the
usual practice is to approximate it by simply multiplying the resonant length for the
exponential case by a factor of 1.1 [7]. In most cases, there are charts prepared by the
manufacturers to assist in the calculation: however these charts tend to be restrictive as
certain conditions have to be observed before they can be used. It is common practice to
increase the length of the horn design by 2 to 3 mm so that the horn can be fine-tuned to the
machine with slight adjustments. It is also necessary to restrict the length of the tool, so that it
does not change the frequency extensively when attached to the horn. For example, a tool of
2 to 3 mm generally lowers the frequency by about 0.5 to 1 kHz below the desired resonant
frequency.

4 Modeling pre-processor
Finite element analysis is performed by using the commercial package ANSYS which is
one of the most powerful and flexible tools for available for dynamic analysis of structures. As
far as we know, the finite element method is very useful in finding the resonance frequency
and analysing the vibration displacement distribution of acoustic horn with any dimension. In
this finite element analysis, the major factors used for modeling a general structural pressure
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

62

simulation included element type, real constant, material properties, geometry, meshing,
boundary conditions, etc. After these factors have been set, the analysis may begin. The
factors for analysis of an ultrasonic horn are modal and harmonic analysis. The horn is
manufactured from aluminium and carbon steel with the following material properties: (table
1). Ultra sonic horn geometry generation and meshing are done in ANSYS preprocessor
figure 1 (a) & (b).

Table 1 mechanical properties of horn material

4.1 Geometry generation

The geometry (figure 1, a) is generated in preprocessor modeling. The length of the
horn is the resonance length (table 1) .The input and output diameter are 40 and 20mm .The
conical part is added at the step of the horn.

4.2 Modal analyses

Modal analysis allows the design to avoid resonant vibrations or to vibrate at a
specified frequency. It helps in calculating solution controls for other dynamic analyses,
because a structures vibration characteristics determine how it responds to any type of
dynamic load; always perform a modal analysis first before trying any other dynamic analysis.
Modal analysis is a linear analysis, any nonlinearities such as plasticity and contact elements,
are ignored, even if they are defined. Several mode extraction available in the modal analysis
but in present case BLOCK LANCZOS extraction method is selected.

4.3 Harmonic analyses

The technique to determine the steady state response of a structure to sinusoidal
(harmonic) loads of known frequency where the input harmonic loads are forces, pressures,
imposed displacements, and imposed voltage of known frequency. The output parameter is
harmonic displacement at each DOF, current flow for piezoelectric elements, stresses and
strains.3. Methods of solving the harmonic equation of motion, but in present case Full
method is selected, it is uses in full structure and unsymmetrical matrices (ultrasonic stepped
horn).

4.4 Element type selection

After generating the model, element types are set in the ANSYS pre-processor. Each
element has its own features. Selection of suitable element types according to material and
design of the ultrasonic vibrating horn were made to ensure the analytical correctness. The
ultrasonic vibrating horn is predominantly divided into metallic materials. Element selection
varies due to differing features. The metallic materials contain aluminum alloy and carbon
steel. Consideration for the special curved surface structure of the vibrating system was
given, and solid 92, a tetrahedron with 10 nodes (figure 1, c) was selected as the element. As
the tetrahedron element allows the finite element analysis software to grid a complex
geometric model easily, it is suitable for the shape requirement of the vibrating horn.

4.5 Mesh generation
According to the basic principles of finite element analysis theory, the smaller the mesh
element size is, the more accurate the results of an analysis will be. If the mesh element size

MATERIAL

E(Gpa)

PRXY

DENSITY
(kg/m
3
)

RESONCE
LENGTH
(l
c
) (mm)

C(L0NG)
(m/sec)
Nodal
plane
(mm)

ALUMINUM 70 0.33 2800 125 5000 62.5
CARBON
STEEL
200 0.30 7800 126.5 5060 63.25
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

63

is infinitely small, the theoretical model will approach the optimal solution. However, this is
only a presupposition. In the analysis process, when used elements are too small, element
meshing will generate too many elements, nodes and freedom for the model in general. This
increases computational intensity, resulting in a model that is either too time-consuming to
solve, or potential errors in values. Thus, reasonable mesh element size is a factor that shall
be considered in the analysis.

4.6 Boundary condition

Plain carbon steel (0.45 percent carbon) and aluminum having are selected as the horn
material. The properties of materials are given in table1. After finalizing settings for the
ANSYS pre-processor, boundary conditions must be set in the solution-finding processor. The
output of piezo-electric transducer is applied as input of horn. 0. 001mm displacement load is
applied at the big end of the ultrasonic vibrating horn (figure 1, b).

5 Post processing and discussion

The resonance length of the ultrasonic horn is 125mm for aluminum alloy and 126.5 for
plain carbon steel. The simulation of the ultrasonic vibrating horn is conducted by ANSYS.
After material constants and boundary conditions are input into ANSYS, the analysis and
solution finding processes are started. The principle is to input displacement load is intensified
through-out the end of the horn and natural frequency is calculated for resonance regime. At
the end of the modal analyses, one can obtain from figure 1.d and



(a) (b) (c)

(d) ( e)

Fig 1 a. modelling of horn. b. mesh generation in pre-processor. c. 3D-10 node solid 92
element.d. nodal analysis of aluminium horn. e. nodal analysis of plain carbon steel horn

Figure1.e a set of frequencies Mode 5 (26,435 KHz) for aluminium and Mode 5 (22
KHz) for carbon steel horn is proven to be closest to the resonance frequency of the
Proc. of the 5
th
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2011), June 06-08, 2011
S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India

64

ultrasonic system (25 KHz) and in harmonic analyses, one can obtained from figure 2,
amplitude of vibration is maximum at the tip which is greater than that of input and zero at the
conical section, where the nodal point is appear and the amplitude of vibration at tip op
aluminium horn is more than that of carbon steel horn. From figure 3 one can obtained at
resonance frequency amplitude of vibration is higher.



Fig 2 amplitude vs horn length Fig 3 amplitude vs frequency

5. Conclusion

It is very important to know the resonance frequency and amplitude at every point of
the ultrasonic horn, because: it allows precise determination of the nodal plane position for
locking in place of the ultrasonic system for desired processing; the parameters of the
ultrasonic system can be determined dependant of the amplitude at the top of the horn; finite
element modeling and analysis allow testing of various shapes of ultrasonic horns without the
need to manufacture a real prototype; it allows the correct selection of the horn shape for a
particular machining process. It is also important to selection of horn material for maximum
amplitude of vibration at the tip because it decreases the surface roughness and cutting force
in an ultrasonic turning process.

References

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ultrasonic machining using finite-element analysis. J. Mat. Process. Technol. 55, (1995),
254260.
[2] Bngtsson, E., Noreland, D., Berggren, M., Shape optimization of an acoustic horn.
Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 192, (2003). 15331571.
[3] Fan, G.L., Ying, C.F., Lin, Z.M.,. A kind of new ultrasonic tool system machining deep
small hole. Appl. Acoust. 1 (1), (1982), 27 (in Chinese).
[4] ula, A., Vazquez, F., Pappalardo, M., Finite element three-dimensional analysis of the
vibrational behavior of the Langevin-type transducer. Ultrasonic 40, (2002.),513517.
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bonding, International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems (2007), 1720,
October, COX, Seoul, Korea.
[6] V. Yadava. Design of horn for rotary ultrasonic machining using the finite element
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[7] Diatron, KLN, Ultrasonic Drilling Machine Operation Manual, (1978.)
[8] Gary F. Benedict, Non-traditional Manufacturing Processes, Dekker, New York [9]
[9] E.A. Neppiras and R.D. Foskett, Ultrasonic machining, Philips Technical Review. Vol. 18,
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[10] L.D. Rozenberg and V.F. Kazantsev, Ultrasonic cutting, Consultants Bureau. New York,
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