CNC microturning: an application to miniaturization

Micromachining is the basic technology of microengineering for the production of miniature components. One group of tool based micromachining technology is CNC microturning. It is a conventional material removal process that has been miniaturized. The objective of this study is to asses the machinability of brass, aluminium alloy and stainless steel during external cylindrical longitudinal microturning process for different workpiece-tool combinations. Experiments were carried out by varying the depth of cut, feed rate and spindle speed. One parameter was varied while the other two were kept constant in order to identify the best combination of cutting parameters. Machinability assessment was done by force analysis, chip analysis and tool wear criterion. Microshafts were fabricated with brass, aluminium alloy and stainless steel. Finally, microturning process was successfully applied to fabricate compound shaped micropins of diameter less than 0.5 mm.