Micro Cutting of Sapphire

Abstract

Sapphire has high mechanical strength at high temperatures and high pressure. Thus, micro devices made of sapphire are expected to be used in extreme environments such as aerospace, defense and marine. Then, the machining technology is required for manufacturing of 3 dimensional shapes. The paper discusses the micro cutting process of sapphire to determine the applicable cutting parameters in planing and milling. First, the critical stress at which crack initiation occurs is measured in the indentation test with detecting AE signal. The critical stress of sapphire is beyond 22.6 GPa, which is much higher than those of glasses. Then, the critical depths of cut, maximum depths of cut in which crack-free surfaces were finished, were measured in cutting of r crystal plane. The critical depth of cut is maximized when the cutting is performed in a crystal axis direction. In milling of sapphire, adhesion of chip onto the surface finish should be considered as well as brittle fracture. In milling of r crystal plane, the surface finish is improved better than those of the other crystal planes. Adhesion of material can also be controlled by supplying lubrication.