Deformation of thin parts in micromilling

Deformation is one of the major problems in the micromilling of thin parts. Deformation of thin parts is mainly due to the machining induced residual stresses remained in the part and directly affects the dimensions and form tolerances of microparts. Therefore, this article proposes a new modeling approach to predict deformation of thin parts in micromachining. In the modeling approach, micromilling induced mechanical and thermal loads on the workpiece are estimated, and a new multi-physics based finite element modeling (FEM) approach is proposed to predict thin part deformation in micromilling for the first time. The newly developed deformation model is validated under various cutting conditions in the micromilling of Ti-6Al-4V.