Modelling and experimental investigation of the micro end milling process for ti 6al 4v alloy and#8195;

Abstract

The demand for miniaturized components with feature size in the range of few microns newlinehas increased tremendously in various fields such as optics, electronics, medicine, newlinecommunications, etc. Micro-end milling is considered to be one of the preferred newlinemethods to manufacture the miniature components because of its ability and flexibility newlineto produce complex micro 3D parts. In spite of the large number of research being done newline newlinein micro-end milling process, there is still a significant gap in understanding the micro- newlineend milling process at different cutting conditions. Basic understanding of cutting newline newlineforce, chip formation, surface finish and coefficient of friction during micro machining newlineand deviation of these responses from conventional macro scale machining processes newlineis lacking. Despite being one of the difficult to machine materials, Ti-6Al-4V is widely newline newlineused in various fields such as aerospace, electronics, bio-medical, etc. Hence Ti-6Al- newline4V alloy was selected as the workpiece material in this study. newline newlineFirst stage of this work was an experimental investigation on micro-end milling newlineprocess to find out significant factors influencing the surface roughness and top burr newlineformation during micro-end milling of Ti-6Al-4V. Tests were carried out at different newlinelevels of spindle speed, feed and depth of cut. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was newlineused to find the significant factors influencing surface roughness and top burr newline newlineformation. Cutting strategy was suggested to minimize the top burr formation in micro- newlineend milling of slot and verified for a slot of 0.75 mm width. Multi-objective newline newlineoptimization was done using desirability function approach to find out the optimal newlineprocess parameters to achieve minimum surface roughness and top burr width. newlineInfluence of edge radius effect of the tool on micro-end milling process was newlineexplored in the second stage of this study. Experimental investigation was performed newlineat different feed per tooth.