To make things a little easier to find, I'm going to put what I found here rather than in the melee weapons thread.
Vibro-blade benefits:
+ Self Cleaning
+ Better at making more precise cuts (Not necessarily faster or more efficient)
+ Good at cutting brittle material
+ Blade not likely to get stuck in anything
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It doesn't seem like Vibro-blades would be better than a regular blade in terms of "Samurai cutting a dude in half". An armor plate with higher hardness than the blade is still going to stop it. Stab-resistant armor is still going to be reasonably stab-resistant.
We're looking mostly at IRL uses of ultrasonic blades for this comparison.
https://www.sonotec.com/en/column/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/ultrasonic-cutting
https://www.automate.org/blogs/understanding-robotic-ultrasonic-cutting-in-industrial-applications
As an example of a more precise cut not necessarily being a faster or more efficient cut, we can look at this image. It shows an ultrasonic drill cutting through material. It doesn't really cut that much faster, but it does make a neater, cleaner, hole. This has applications for highly precise machinery and surgery but the same paper also seems to confirm that a bur or saw cuts faster than an ultrasonic blade.
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So why might you see a vibro-sword?
If you see one, it'll probably be a showy piece. A high tech miniaturized ultrasonic system in the handle would make the blade much easier to clean, and it would keep the blade from getting stuck in whatever you cut.
It won't make the blade into something lightsaber quality, and you likely won't be able to cut anything you wouldn't already be able to cut with a regular blade.
The precision cutting abilities of ultrasonic devices don't really do a lot for practical use.
Vibro-blade benefits:
+ Self Cleaning
+ Better at making more precise cuts (Not necessarily faster or more efficient)
+ Good at cutting brittle material
+ Blade not likely to get stuck in anything
---
It doesn't seem like Vibro-blades would be better than a regular blade in terms of "Samurai cutting a dude in half". An armor plate with higher hardness than the blade is still going to stop it. Stab-resistant armor is still going to be reasonably stab-resistant.
We're looking mostly at IRL uses of ultrasonic blades for this comparison.
https://www.sonotec.com/en/column/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/ultrasonic-cutting
https://www.automate.org/blogs/understanding-robotic-ultrasonic-cutting-in-industrial-applications
As an example of a more precise cut not necessarily being a faster or more efficient cut, we can look at this image. It shows an ultrasonic drill cutting through material. It doesn't really cut that much faster, but it does make a neater, cleaner, hole. This has applications for highly precise machinery and surgery but the same paper also seems to confirm that a bur or saw cuts faster than an ultrasonic blade.
---
So why might you see a vibro-sword?
If you see one, it'll probably be a showy piece. A high tech miniaturized ultrasonic system in the handle would make the blade much easier to clean, and it would keep the blade from getting stuck in whatever you cut.
It won't make the blade into something lightsaber quality, and you likely won't be able to cut anything you wouldn't already be able to cut with a regular blade.
The precision cutting abilities of ultrasonic devices don't really do a lot for practical use.