Abstract
Productivity in micro-milling is hindered by premature fracture of tools and difficulty predicting wear. This work builds upon previous investigations into tool wear mechanisms and coatings for micro-mills.The technology readiness level of this work exceeds previous studies by investigating the micro-mills for practical applications and comparing this data. 0.5 mm micro end mills are tested with different coatings on CuZn38, and wear curves produced both in the case of simple straight slot testing and milling of complex parts representing industrial applications. The results show that curves produced using straight slots can be used to predict the behaviour of tools used to machine industrial parts. Due to interrupted cutting, tools used in straight slot tests reach the end of steady state wear after approximately 12 s of cutting as compared with 170 s in continuous milling. Typical cutting forces seen for the tools are in the order of 2–4 N. Catastrophic failure is seen towards the end of tool life for a TiAlN tool with a cutting force of over 30 N seen. For the first time a comparison has been made between fundamental tool wear studies and tool wear observed when producing test pieces representative to micro-industrial parts. This presents a novel perspective on tool wear and facilitates the integrating of existing micro-milling research into industry
Highlights
Micro-milling is a viable method for producing highprecision parts, those with high aspect ratios and complex geometry
The purpose of this work is to establish the applicability of tool wear curves that are produced during straight slots in micro-machining, to an industrial context
The tool wear measurement protocol is described in brief more detail can be found in protocol for tool wear measurement in micromilling.[29]
Summary
Micro-milling is a viable method for producing highprecision parts, those with high aspect ratios and complex geometry. It is used from low volume to mass production in a number of industries, including aerospace, medical, dentistry, optics, electronics and micro-mechanical systems.[1] Applications of particular note include electrodes to produce cutting inserts; miniature hydraulic parts for aerospace instrumentation systems; and mould tooling for biotechnology components (e.g. electrophoresis devices for DNA, RNA and protein analysis). Due to their small size, micro-tools wear quickly and unpredictably compared to macro-scale tools, resulting in excessive tool changes and reduced productivity. This research must have the potential to be applied to industry to have value
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