The cutting performance of particle reinforced meta ll ic matrix composites (PRMMCs) SiC p/Al in ultrasonic vibration cutting and comm on cutting with carbide tools and PCD tools was experimentally researched in the paper. The changing rules of chip shape, deformation coefficient, shear angle a nd surface residual stress were presented by ultrasonic vibration cutting. Resul ts show: when adopting common cutting, spiral chip with smaller curl radius will be obtained. The chip with zigzag contour is short and thick. There are lots of sheet cracking both on the face of the chip and on the machined surface. That i s to say, the cutting process of metallic matrix composites(MMCs) is not all lik e the cutting process of plastic material. It is akin to the breaking process of brittle material. By comparison, when adopting ultrasonic cutting, because tool contacts with workpiece intermittently in high frequency, deformation of chip i s small, loose spiral chip with larger curl radius is long and thin. The phenome non is just similar to vibration cutting of plastic material. But the chip still belongs to plastic or semi-plastic segmental chip due to the structure charact eristics of the material itself. Furthermore, the tangential residual compressio n stress of vibration cutting is larger than that of common cutting, axial resid ual stress has a relation to the feed rate and residual stress does not changes obviously with cutting depth and they are in the same order of magnitude on the whole. According to the test result analyzing, the following conclusions are put forward: 1) The extruding deformation is serious in common cutting PRMMCs, defo rmation of it’s chip is larger, and the chip with lesser curl radius is short. Whereas, the deformation of chip in vibration cutting PRMMCs is lesser, the curl radius is bigger, and the loose chips are obtained at every turn. 2) The cuttin g deformation coefficient of chip in vibration cutting is lesser than that in co mmon cutting, however the shear angle is bigger. 3) The tangential residual compression stress of vibration cutting is larger than that of common cutting, a nd residual stress does not change obviously with cutting depth, they are in the same order of magnitude on the whole. The cutting performance of particle reinforced metall ic matrix composites (PRMMCs) SiC p / Al in ultrasonic vibration cutting and comm on cutting with carbide tools and PCD tools was experimentally researched in the paper. The changing rules of chip shape, deformation coefficient, shear Resol ts show: when adopting common cutting, spiral chip with smaller curl radius will be obtained. The chip with zigzag contour is short and thick. There are lots of sheet cracking both on the face of the chip and on the machined surface. That is to say, the cutting process of metallic matrix composites (MMCs) is not all lik e the cutting process of plastic material. It is akin to the breaking process of brittle material. It comparison, when when ultrasonic cutting, because tool contacts with workpiece intermittently in high frequency, deformation of chip is small, loose spiral chip with larger curl radius is long and thin. The phenome non is just like to vibration cutting of plastic material. But the chip still belongs to plastic or semi-plastic segmental chip due to the structure charact eristics of the material itself. vibration cutting is larger than that of common cutting, axial resid ual stress has a relation to the feed rate and residual stress does not change obviously with cutting depth and they are in the same order of magnitude on the whole. According to the test result analyzing , the following conclusions are put forward: 1) The extruding deformation is serious in common cutting PRMMCs, defo rmation of it’s chip is larger, and the chip with lesser curl radius is short. Whereas, the deformation of chip in vibration cutting PRMMCs is lesser , the curl radius is bigger, and the loose chips are obtained at every turn. 2) The cuttin g deformation coefficient of chip in vibration cutting is lesser than that in co mmo3) The tangential residual compression stress of vibration cutting is larger than that of common cutting, a nd residual stress does not change obviously with cutting depth, they are in the same order of magnitude on the whole.