Topography and surface roughness of floor in groove micro milling

Abstract

Micro milling operation is a fabrication process to create 3D parts from tens of micrometers to a few millimeters in size using a tool with diameter less than 1mm. Micro groove is one of the common features observed in the micro parts. The surface roughness of micro grooves plays an important role in their performance. Since most of the finishing processes could not be easily performed on the micro grooves, it is of extreme importance to find a relationship between micro milling parameters and the surface roughness profile. In this paper, in order to anticipate the profile and surface roughness of the groove floor a model is proposed based on the kinematic of cutting process and tool geometry. The effects of minimum chip thickness, elastic recovery, size effect and tool deflection are included in the model. Relationship between position of points on the floor surface of groove and kinematics of cutting process are derived. In next step, simulations of proposed model are performed in the ACIS environment. Finally, using the DOE method surface roughness is investigated stochastically. The simulated and measured surface roughnesses are compared together that confirm the validity of proposed model.