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Download the Paper (512 K, PDF file) - May 31, 2004 Tell a colleague about it. Printing Tips: Select 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog if you have trouble printing.

ABSTRACT:

Micro-end-milling is emerging as an important fabrication process. Its benefits include the ability to fabricate micro and meso-scale parts out of a greater range of materials and with more varied geometry than is possible with lithography and etching. It also enables the creation of micro and meso-scale molds for injection molding. Factors affecting surface roughness have not been studied in depth for this process. A series of experiments has been conducted in order to begin to characterize the factors affecting surface roughness and determine the range of attainable surface roughness values for the micro-end-milling process. A 229 ?m diameter end mill was used to cut slots into aluminum (6061) samples. The machining factors studied were chip load (feed per tooth), cutting speed, and depth of cut. A two level factorial experiment was run, and it was determined that while chip load was the dominating factor, the interaction between chip load and cutting speed was also significant. Further experiments allowed the generation of a second order relationship between chip load and surface roughness. The model, which includes the effect of chip load, cutting speed, and the interaction between the two, predicted the surface roughness values with an accuracy of about +/- 10%. The surface roughness values ranged from 600 Å all the way to 3800 Å over the span of the studied parameters.