Using two-dimensional vibration cutting for micro-milling

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of assisted vibration cutting (VC) on the micro-milling quality of aluminum alloy Al 6061-T6. The desired vibration is proposed from the workpiece side by a two-dimensional vibrating worktable we developed. The slot produced by end milling is studied by examining its geometrical shape and machining accuracy. Through extensive experiments with end mills of diameter 1 mm, we found that slot oversize, displacement of slot center and slot surface roughness could be improved by imposing VC. The employment of VC increases the number of slots produced within the tolerance when high amplitude and proper frequency are imposed. With the help of Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA), we analyzed the effect of VC in end milling by investigating the slot-width accuracy. It is found that the use of second directional VC to minimize slot-width oversize in end milling is helpful.