Ultraprecision Microgrooving of Hard Material by Means of Cutting Point Swivel Machining

Recently, in accordance with the technical development and miniaturization of the information equipments, the demand of optic elements with high precision and miniaturization is increased. The die is used for manufacturing the optic elements. Thus, it is needed to machine the die with high efficiency and high precision. As the material of die, hard material including cemented carbide and ceramics is used. However, when hard material is machined, there is a problem that severe tool wear occurs, and worn tool shape is transferred into the surface so that precision machining cannot be realized. In this study, a method, called cutting point swivel machining, is proposed to suppress tool wear by using the tool with special chamfer and all parts of tool tip. The effect of tool wear suppression is verified by the machining of SiC. Then, the relation between the suppression of tool wear and tool rotation period is verified.