INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL MICRO MACHINING

Difference between Macro and Micro machining

Ajay M. Sidpara
Mechanical Engineering Department
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
 Specific cutting energy
Cutting force (Fc) does not tend to continue to decrease as the uncut chip
thickness (hc) reduces.
Fc levels off below a certain range of hc  Fc needed FcV F
u  c
to cut was larger than anticipated at lower hc. bhcV bhc
Fc does not decrease proportionally to hc causes the
u to increase dramatically.

Cheng, Huo (2013) Micro-Cutting: Fundamentals and Applications, WILEY hc

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 2
 Specific cutting energy
Cutting tools are never perfectly sharp 
the cutting edge is never an ideal straight
Sharp Blunt
line. tool tool
When hc becomes comparable to the
cutting edge radius  force and energy
u
trends change.

hc
r
Cheng, Huo (2013) Micro-Cutting: Fundamentals and Applications, WILEY

Ajay Sidpara
Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 3
Specific cutting energy
hc is 100 nm to 10
µm, dislocations
become the origin
of breakage.

hc > 10 µm, the

hc < 1 µm, Point
grain boundaries
defects spaced 1 nm
become the origin
to 100 nm become
of breakage.
the origin of
breakage.

Taniguchi (1983) CIRP Annals 32(2), 573-582. || Balasubramaniam and Suri, Diamond turn machining, in Intro. to Micromachining, Narosa, India

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Reasons for high specific cutting energy
Strengthening due to lack of defects
Strain-rate hardening
Reduced temperature softening
Strain-gradient hardening
Plastic flow around a blunt tool edge
Extension of the shear plane into the workpiece

Subbiah and Melkote (2006) J. Eng. Mater. Technol 129(2), 321-331

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 5
 Burr formation
It is a material plastic deformation produced at workpiece edges as a result of the
machining or shearing process
Decreased device
Improper part performance
mating Problems
due to burrs Accelerated
Dimensional device wear
accuracy
Increase cost
Surface finish
of production
Galip Ulsoy, 2006, Condition monitoring and control of intelligent manufacturing
Aramcharoen and Mativenga, Size effect and tool geometry in micromilling of tool steel, Precision Engineering

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 6
 Burr formation
6 physical processes which form burrs:
• lateral flow of material which occurs whenever a solid is compressed,
• Bending of material, Chip thickness Tool
• Tearing of chip from workpiece, / DoC Factors for sharpness
• Redeposition of material, Cutting burrs Workpiece
speed formation materials
• Incomplete cut-off, and
• Flow of material into cracks.
Feed rate
Gillespie (1999) Deburring and edge finishing SME Handbook

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr formation: Types
Tear burr is the result of material
tearing loose from the workpiece
rather than shearing clearly.
The rollover burr is
The Poisson burr is a result of a
essentially a chip which is
material’s tendency to bulge to the
bent rather than sheared
sides when it is compressed until
resulting in a comparatively
permanent plastic deformation occurs.
larger burr. Called: Exit burr
Gillespie (1999) Deburring and edge finishing SME Handbook
da Silva et al. (2015) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirpj.2014.10.003

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr formation: Types

Primary burr Needle-like burr

Feathery burr Minor burr

Material: Al 6061-T6 : (N is in rpm, S in mm/min and d in μm)

Lee and Dornfeld, Trans. NAMRI, 30: 255-262, 2002. || Chern et al. (2007) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precisioneng.2006.04.001

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Schematic of burr formation before crack propagation

The plastic deformation occurs
at the workpiece edge as plastic
bending.
Hashimura et al. (1999) J. Manuf. Sci. Eng 121(1), 1-7
Large deformation-like Large deformation at the pivoting
catastrophic deformation occurs point expands to connect with
at the workpiece edge  Cutting the deformation in the primary
forces may start decreasing shear zone.

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Schematic of burr formation with crack
Large critical fracture strain.
Strain in –ve shear zone is
smaller than the critical strain
of the material.

Small critical
fracture
strain.
Strain in –ve
shear zone is
larger than
the critical
strain of the
material.
Hashimura et al. (1999) J. Manuf. Sci. Eng 121(1), 1-7 Shearing mode to opening mode
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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr formation: Up milling and down milling
On the side of Up-milling cutting  the cutting direction is parallel to the
feed direction.
On the side of down-milling  the cutting direction
is opposite to the feed direction.
Burr formation limits on the minimum wall size that
could be machined.

Kiswantoa et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 16 (2014) 435–450

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr formation: Up milling and down milling
Up-milling has smaller burrs than down milling.
Up-milling side  Burr is a Poisson burr formed only by side
bulging action.
Down milling side  Top burr is formed by the action of the chip
material tearing away as it flows as well as side bulging
deformation.

Kiswantoa et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 16 (2014) 435–450 || Saptaji et al. (2012) Precis Eng 36(3):444–450

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr formation: Material properties
Ductile materials  High elastic–plastic deformation in machining  larger and
more burrs are likely to be formed.
Hard materials  Fewer burrs.
However, Hard material  more tool wear  high cutting edge radius  -ve rake
angle  ploughing  more burr formation.

Shafer F (1975) Entgraten. Krausskopf-Verlog, Mainz

Schmidt J, Tritschler H (2004) Micro cutting of steel. Microsys Technol 10(3):167–174

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr reduction strategies
Small Depth of cut  less burr height  True??
Small Depth of cut  Rubbing and ploughing  Formation of large, strong burr.
More No. of flutes  less chip load (feed/tooth/rev)  Small uncut chip
thickness  decreased burr height.
High cutting velocities led to less burr formation in the micro-milling of steel.
Coated tools reduce the burr size when micro-milling hardened steel.
Use of cutting fluid  flood cooling, mist cooling, etc.
Saptaji, Mechanical micromachining in DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-4670-4_12

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Burr control by supporting material

Extending workpiece Crack grows on the Burrs formation on

boundaries with support material the support material
supporting material

Kou et al. (2015) Procedia Manuf. 1:501–11.

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Deburring
Burrs are unavoidable  Necessary to reduce the complexity of the subsequent
deburring operation
• Minimizing the burr strength
• Ensuring the burrs form at workpiece locations that are easy to access
Conventional de-burring cannot be applied on micro components  dimensional
errors, damage surface finish, and residual stresses.

Galip Ulsoy, 2006, Condition monitoring and control of intelligent manufacturing

Aramcharoen and Mativenga, Size effect and tool geometry in micromilling of tool steel, Precision Engineering

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 17
 Deburring processes
Electrochemical polishing (for stainless steel)
Powder blasting using white fused alumina (for brass).
Micro-peening and ultrasonic wet peening (for brass and tool steel)
Micro EDM (for top burrs on aluminum alloys, copper and stainless steel)
Gentle finishing processes  Magnetorhelogical finishing, Magnetic abrasive
finishing, Abrasive assisted brush deburring, etc.

Saptaji, Mechanical micromachining in DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-4670-4_12

Ajay Sidpara
Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 18
 Surface roughness
Roughness
Comprising of irregularities that occur due to
the mechanism of the material removal
process:
• Tool geometry
• Wheel grit, or
• EDM spark

Graham Smith, Industrial Metrology, Springer

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Surface roughness
Waviness
Component of the surface texture upon which
roughness is superimposed, resulting from
factors such as
• Machine or part deflections,
• Vibrations and chatter,
• Material strain, etc.

Graham Smith, Industrial Metrology, Springer

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Surface roughness
Profile
The overall shape of the surface - ignoring
roughness and waviness variations - is caused
by errors in machine tool slide ways

Graham Smith, Industrial Metrology, Springer

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Mechanical Engineering
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 Surface roughness
The shape and size of irregularities on a machined surface have a major impact on
the quality and performance of that surface.
Differences in these irregularities impact the quality and function of the surface.
Friction, durability, operating noise, energy consumption and airtightness.

Graham Smith, Industrial Metrology, Springer

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 22
 Instruments for surface roughness measurement
Working Lateral and
capabilities vertical range

Resolution

Probe Scanning
geometry mechanisms

Other
constraints

Jiang et al., (2007) Proc. R. Soc. A 2007 463 2071-2099; DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2007.1873 / Donald K. Cohen, Michigan Metrology, LLC

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Mechanical Engineering
IIT KHARAGPUR 23