Process investigation on meso-scale hard milling of ZrO2 by diamond coated tools

• We report a first attempting on meso-scale milling of fully sintered ZrO2 ceramics by diamond coated tools.
• Mirror quality surface, with Ra down to 20 nm, on the sample is achieved.
• Ductile material removal is the prevailing cutting mechanism.
• Tool performance is related to the integrity of the diamond coating.
• Due to the rapid wear, industrial application of the process is mainly restricted to finishing operations and micro applications.

This paper investigates the feasible machining of zirconium oxide (ZrO2) ceramics, in the hard state, via milling by diamond coated miniature tools (from here on briefly indicated as meso-scale hard milling). The workpiece material is a fully sintered yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystalline ceramic (Y-TZP). Diamond coated WC mills, 2 mm in diameter, four flutes and large corner radius (0.5 mm) are chosen as cutting tools, and experiments are conducted on a state-of-the-art micro milling machine centre. The influence of cutting parameters, including axial depth of cut (ap) and feed per tooth (fz), on the achievable surface quality is studied by means of a one-factor variation experimental design. Further tests are also conducted to monitor the process performance, including surface roughness, tool wear and machining accuracy, over the machining time. Mirror quality surfaces, with average surface roughness Ra below 80 nm, are obtained on the machined samples; the SEM observations of the surface topography reveal a prevailing ductile cutting appearance. Tool wear initiates with delamination of the diamond coating and progresses with the wear of the WC substrate, with significant effect on the cutting process and its performance. Main applications of this research include three dimensional surface micro structuring and superior surface finishing.