Papers by Keyword: Micromilling

Abstract: Micro products or micro components are commonly used in today’s world. Research around micromanufacture technologies to produce a better product quality has been going on extensively. Ultrasonic vibration assisted micromilling (UVAM) is one of the technologies that can give a better machining qualities over the conventional ones. One of the benefits UVAM can give is reducing the machined surface roughness. The purpose of this paper is to give an idea how vibration assisted micromilling can give a better surface roughness quality. The theoritical surface roughness geometry model is made using MATLAB software. The cutting tool used in the simulation is end mill. There is a feature of the cutting tool called bottom cutting edge angle. This feature will be considered on this paper. The effects of the bottom cutting edge on workpiece machined surface can be looked visually from the simulation. Thus, the effects of cutting process using UVAM on the workpiece surface can be looked as well through the simulation.

Abstract: How to fabricate a disposable microfluidic device is a growing interest in many application fields and micromilling is one of the efficient approaches. The benefits of using micromilling for polymer microfluidic devices include shorter fabrication process, lower cost, easier user interface, and being capable of fabricating complicated structures. The aim of this study is to use factor analysis to determine the optimal cutting conditions in micromilling microchannels on polycarbonate substrates. The parameters included spindle speed, feed rate, and the depth of cut, and the micromilled roughness was measured by a stylus profilemeter. The smallest roughness achieved was 0.127μm with the spindle speed of 20,000rpm, feed rate of 300mm/min, and the depth of cut of 10μm. From factor analysis results, the spindle speed has the largest influence while the depth of cut has the minimized impact to the surface quality of a micromilled polycarbonate substrate.

Abstract: This paper introduces the design, manufacturing and tests of a new CNC desktop milling machine dedicated to micro and meso-scale components. The paper discusses two types of micro-machine structure i.e. egg shape bridge and cantilever egg shape column. Both structures have been designed using an enhanced deterministic design method combining FEM and Taguchi methods. This has led to achieve tight geometric and kinematic errors and secured high machining accuracy observed in a couple of samples milled on the micro-machine.

Abstract: Sheet-bulk metal forming is an innovative process with a high potential to generate load-adapted parts with high precision. Bulk forming processes of sheet metals especially require high process forces, resulting in an intense contact pressure and, thus, in a very high abrasive and adhesive wear. As a method to reduce or avoid these common wear phenomena, even hardened or coated tool surfaces are not sufficient. The objective of this paper is to show an improvement of the tool resistance during an incremental forming process by an adapted tool design and the application of structured tool surfaces combined with coatings. For the tool surface the structure of the scarabaeus beetle serves as the basis for a bionic structure. This structure was manufactured by micromilling. Despite the high hardness of the tool material and the complex geometry of the forming tools, very precise patterns were machined successfully using ball-end milling cutters. The combination of bionic structures with coating techniques like physical vapor deposition (PVD) on plasma nitrided tool surfaces is very promising. In this work, the influence of process parameters (workpiece material, lubrication, tool design, stepwise infeed) on the tool resistance during the forming operation was analyzed experimentally. The results of the optimized forming tools were compared to conventional, unstructured, uncoated, and only plasma nitrided forming tools. The different tools were applied to 2 mm thick metal sheets made of aluminum (AlMg3) and steel (non-alloy quality steel DC04). As a result, the process forces could be reduced by a modified shape and surface of the tools. Thus, the lifetime of the tools can be enhanced.

Abstract: A rapid manufacturing process was demonstrated to fabricate a microfluidic device to amplify specific DNA fragments in less than 8 hours. Microfluidics was derived from microelectromechanical system (MEMS) with lithography technique on the substrates of silicon and glass, which made the microfluidic product have a higher fabrication cost and laborious fabrication steps. This rapid approach only requires three steps for a PDMS microfluidic device: metal mold insert manufacturing, PDMS casting, and glass bonding. Each step did not require complicated equipments or procedures, and make this approach very attractive in rapid prototyping and experimental optimization with microfluidic devices. In this work, a brass mold insert was manufactured by a micromilling machine, followed by the standard PDMS casting and glass bonding to fabricate a microfluidic device. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify specific DNA fragments, a typical microfluidic example, was successfully realized on this PDMS microfluidic device. This rapid and low cost (compared to conventional lithography) fabrication approach can provide researchers a lower entry to polymeric lab-on-a-chip either on PDMS or thermoplastic substrate for various applications.

Abstract: Fabrication of micro and nanoscale components are in high demand for various applications in diversified fields that include automotive, electronics, communication and medicine. Focused ion beam (FIB) machining is one of the techniques for microfabrication of micro devices. This paper presents a review of FIB machining technology that include its parameter, responses, its important component systems, as well as the fundamentals of imaging, milling (etching) and deposition techniques. The application of FIB in micromachining is also presented.

Abstract: Sheet-bulk metal forming is a process used to manufacture load-adapted parts with high precision. However, bulk forming of sheet metals requires high forces, and thus tools applied for the operational demand have to withstand very high contact pressures, which lead to high wear and abrasion. The usage of conventional techniques like hardening and coating in order to reinforce the surface resistance are not sufficient enough in this case. In this paper, the tool resistance is improved by applying filigree bionic structures, especially structures adapted from the Scarabaeus beetle to the tool’s surface. The structures are realized by micromilling. Despite the high hardness of the tool material, very precise patterns are machined successfully using commercially available ball-end milling cutters. The nature-adapted surface patterns are combined with techniques like plasma nitriding and PVD coating, leading to a multilayer coating system. The effect of process parameters on the resistance of the tools is analyzed experimentally and compared to a conventional, unstructured, uncoated, only plasma nitrided forming tool. Therefore, the tools are used for an incremental bulk forming process on 2 mm thick metal sheets made of aluminum. The results show that the developed methodology is feasible to reduce the process forces and to improve the durability of the tools.