A Study of the Micro-End Milling of Titanium Alloy

Abstract

This study deals with the cutting characteristics of titanium materials when milled by a small-diameter end mill, or a micro end mill. It is well known that titanium is difficult to cut by conventional means. However, its cutting characteristics have not yet been made sufficiently clear in cases where a micro end mill less than 1 mm in diameter is used. This study chiefly involves the experimental investigation of tool wear and surface roughness of micro-end milling of Ti-6Al-4V. The findings were that tool wear did not increase much when the cutting speed was increased from 50 m/min to 200 m/min. Furthermore, the cutting force required to cut decreased at high speeds and during wet cutting. In wet cutting, the surface had a roughness (Rz) of only 0.3 μm at 200 m/min in contrast to 0.6 μm at 50 m/min.

Hybrid Fabrication of Stainless Steel Channels for Microfluidic Application

“…Lack of BUE on coated tool also resulted in better surface finish of micromilled channels on all test samples. This is in agreement with another experimental study that found micromilling Ti-6Al-4V in dry condition promoted BUE and degraded surface finish [5]. Higher chip loads or feed rate degraded surface finish as expected.…”

“…Shearing and ploughing at the tool tip are more complicated and depend on the relative magnitudes of depth of cut, chip load, and tool edge radius. In this case the rake angle has a high negative value, which leads to a serious increase in shear force, friction force on a tool, surface roughness, elastic-plastic deformation, and plowing during micromachining [5]. Although it is possible to fabricate microchannels by micromilling technique, the resulted surface finish might not be satisfactory for fluidic flow requirement.…”

Surface Finish of Ball-End Milled Microchannels

“…11). This is in agreement with another experimental study that found micromilling Ti-6Al-4V in dry condition promotes BUE and worsens surface finish [10].…”

“…The finish is not affected by axial depth of cut, but radial depth of cut has the most significant impact if there is any chattering [9]. Other authors [10] investigated the influence of the cutting fluid and cutting speed on the surface roughness during micro milling of Ti6Al4V with WC flat end mill. Surface finish rises with machined distance during dry cutting, but does not change significantly with machined distance when cutting fluid is used.…”

The Effects of Milling Factors on Surface Finish of Chromium-Molybdenum Steel

“…The previous studies for surface finish of steel such as stainless steel [1], medium carbon steel [2][3] were studied. The others material has been studied such as titanium alloy [4][5], nickel alloy [5][6], aluminum alloy [7] and polymer [8]. They conclude that conditions of milling parameters based on feed rate, cutting speed, and depth of cut could be affecting to surface finish especially in case of steel.…”