Micro Milling on Thin Wire

摘要

Micro milling is discussed to fabricate micro-scale structures on titanium alloy thin wires. A machine tool was developed to conduct the milling operations with improving the clamping stiffness. A 0.3 mm diameter wire inserted into polyurethane tubes was clamped on an R-shaped groove on the machine table. The cutting tests were conducted with or without the polyurethane tube support. The machining shapes, the surface finishes and the cutting forces were measured to verify the effect of the polyurethane tube and machine table clamping system on stability in the cutting process. The groove direction is out of the feed direction of the end mill without the polyurethane tube support. The micro grooves are machined properly with a fine surface in the feed direction with the support. The cutting forces change periodically with the cutting thickness and the rotation of the cutter in milling. Non-symmetric grooves are also machined with the developed clamping system.