Experimental Investigation on the Milling Performance of a 50 μm D-Shaped Micromilling Cutter with Different Materials

In micromilling, the performance and diameter of the milling cutter directly determine the service life of the milling cutter and the surface quality of the microgroove. Therefore, it is vital for high-precision milling to explore the milling performance of different materials and expand the application scope of micromilling cutter sizes. In this study, the milling performance of three kinds of material cutters—carbide, diamond coating and polycrystalline diamond (PCD)—was evaluated. A series of micromilling tests were carried out to determine the effects of cutter material type on cutter wear, surface quality and burr formation, particularly when a 50 µm micromilling cutter was used in the milling process. A D-shaped milling cutter with a diameter of 50 µm was manufactured on a self-developed high-precision modular machine tool by wire electrode electric discharge grinding (WEDG) technology. From theoretical and experimental perspectives, it is easy to master microgroove quality milled by different material cutters. The results show that the microgrooves processed with PCD cutters have fewer burrs, lower surface roughness values, and a smoother groove bottom morphology.

CFRP composite drilling through electrical discharge machining using aluminum as fixture plate

Recent developments in manufacturing require holes on composite materials, especially on the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) with smooth hole periphery, low delamination, burr formation, taper, better circularity, and a high processing speed. Its non-conductive surface (epoxy layering) limits its machining through electrical discharge machining (EDM). To overcome this limitation, an aluminum fixture has been designed to guide the copper electrode of EDM for producing holes on a CFRP sheet of 1 mm thickness at low machining complexity, cost, time, delamination, burr in hole periphery and without affecting the material’s surface quality and performance. Even components with high geometrical complexity can also be drilled through this approach. Here, a multi-quality analysis called grey relational analysis is developed for examining the hole quality attributes, considering peak current, pulse on and off time, and flushing pressure as input parameters. This approach points out the optimum factor level setting and critical parameters (pulse-on time and peak current) that regulate the hole attributes (entrance and exit diameter, circularity, taper, material removal, and tool wear rate). An artificial neural network model has been designed and trained through experimental data sets. This model can also be adopted during the determination of hole quality attributes when the parameter settings are beyond a defined boundary, as the regression analysis value is very close to 1, and model performance is 4.99e-10. Peak current = 4 A, pulse-on time = 25 µs, pulse-off time=25 µs, and flushing pressure = 0.6 MPa were the optimum drilling parameters. In the initial hole, average burr length is 391.75 μm, and delamination of 539.3 μm is noticed. But burr formation is very negligible with delamination of 350.7 μm being observed with uniform circularity (0.979), low taper angle (−0.81354°), and TWR (0.000069 g/min) under optimum drilling conditions through this drilling approach.

Simultaneous Burr and Cut Interruption Detection during Laser Cutting with Neural Networks

In this contribution, we compare basic neural networks with convolutional neural networks for cut failure classification during fiber laser cutting. The experiments are performed by cutting thin electrical sheets with a 500 W single-mode fiber laser while taking coaxial camera images for the classification. The quality is grouped in the categories good cut, cuts with burr formation and cut interruptions. Indeed, our results reveal that both cut failures can be detected with one system. Independent of the neural network design and size, a minimum classification accuracy of 92.8% is achieved, which could be increased with more complex networks to 95.8%. Thus, convolutional neural networks reveal a slight performance advantage over basic neural networks, which yet is accompanied by a higher calculation time, which nevertheless is still below 2 ms. In a separated examination, cut interruptions can be detected with much higher accuracy as compared to burr formation. Overall, the results reveal the possibility to detect burr formations and cut interruptions during laser cutting simultaneously with high accuracy, as being desirable for industrial applications.

Evaluation of Ball End Micromilling for Ti6Al4V ELI Microneedles Using a Nanoadditive Under MQL Condition

The use of nanoadditives in lubricants has gained much attention to the research community due to the enhancement of tribological properties and cooling capabilities. This paper studies the advantages of using a MQL (Minimum Quantity of Lubrication) system and nanoadditive in the manufacture of microneedle arrays in Ti6Al4V ELI alloy. Tungsten carbide ball nose tools with a cutting diameter of 200 µm were used in experimental tests. Surface and dimensional characterization was performed to evaluate the impact of a nanoadditive to a vegetable-based oil. Additionally, cutting forces and cutting edge radius (CER) were measured while needles were machined. Experimental tests confirmed that micro end milling with nanoadditives provide slightly better dimensional features and low cutting forces compared to oil. The performance of nanoadditives resulted in a reduction of surface roughness (~ 0.3 μm). Qualitative study of microneedles illustrated burr formation on needle surface manufactured without a nanoadditive solution. Results reveal an increment of CER using low feed rate values (2.0 µm/flute) while a reduction of CER was observed with feed rates up to 2.5 µm/flute. Our results indicated that the addition of nanoadditives to vegetable oil promotes a better product surface topography and cutting tool performance.

Investigation on the Exit Burr Formation in Micro Milling

The burr on micro part has harmful effect on the dimensional accuracy and service performance. The original control of exit burr formation during micro milling is desirable and advisable. In this paper, the formation mechanism of exit burr was studied based on the varying cutting direction during micro milling. Three exit burr control strategies were concluded, the material properties embrittlement, the support stiffness increasing and machining parameter optimizing operations. Then, micro milling experiments were carried out to investigate the exit burr morphology and size. It was found that the exit burr formation was attributed to the change of material flowing path at the exit surface, which was caused by the negative shear deformation zone that was induced by the discontinuous shape features. Different exit burr morphologies were classified; the triangle exit burr type was caused by the varying exit burr growing direction along the exit surface. The optimal machining parameters in micro milling to obtain a small exit burr were suggested.

Experimental Investigation of Thrust Force, Delamination and Surface Roughness in Drilling Hybrid Structural Composites

Filled hybrid composites are widely used in various structural applications where machining is critical. Hence, it is essential to understand the performance of the fibre composites’ machining behaviour. As such, a new hybrid structural composite was fabricated with redmud as filler and sisal fibre as reinforcement in polyester matrix. The composite was then tested for its drilling performance. A comprehensive drilling experiment was conducted using Taguchi L27 orthogonal array. The effect of the drill tool point angle, the cutting speed, the feed rate on thrust force, delamination, and burr formation were analysed for producing quality holes. The significance of each parameter was analysed, and the experimental outcomes revealed some important findings in the context of the drilling behaviour of sisal fibre/polyester composites with redmud as a filler. Spindle speed contributed 39% in affecting the thrust force, while the feed rate had the maximum influence of ca. 38% in affecting delamination.