Design and Experimentation of a Novel Separable Vibration-Assisted Stage.

In this paper, a novel, separable two-degrees-of-freedom stage with high-precision motion and resolution is proposed for the application of vibration-assisted micromilling. A separable design was realized on the basis of the detachable structure of the platform. Flexible stages with different dimensions and types can be utilized in the devices. A circular-fillet hinge is selected as the flexible unit with a parallel structure to realize output decoupling and reduce the coupling error between the two vibration directions. Analytical modeling is conducted to explore the static and dynamic characteristics of the stage. Results reveal a good agreement with the finite element simulation result. A series of experiments were conducted to assess the static and dynamic performances of the flexible stage, encompassing tests such as amplitude response, motion trajectory, and coupling trajectory. The results of these tests revealed that the designed vibration-assisted system exhibits precise movement capabilities.Highlights: A novel separable vibration-assisted stage with high-precision motion and resolution is proposed, in which flexible stages with different dimensions and sizes can be utilized. The test results show that the coupling error of the 1D stage is much lower than the 2D stage in one-direction vibration. The test results show that the coupling error of the 1D stage is much lower than the 2D stage in one-direction vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]