Abstract Micro-milling is a fast, cheap and controlled process compared to other micro-fabrication processes such as lithography, laser/electron/ion beam machining, etc. However, scarcity of cutting tools of very small dimensions often results in limited application of micro-milling. In the present study, electro discharge machining (EDM) is used for fabrication of micro-end mill tool. To ensure high dimensional accuracy of the tool, a parametric study is conducted by replicating the a tungsten carbide block to a tungsten carbide (WC) block. The relationships between the drilled cavities on the block and the features on the micro-tool are established. The influence of machining parameters (voltage, capacitance and spindle speed) on the response variables (entrance diameter, hole depth, material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness) is reported. Capacitance is found more dominant as compared to other selected process parameters. Using optimized parameters from the parametric study, a WC micro-end mill tool of 100 µm diameter is fabricated. Channel of around 110 µm width, 40 µm depth and surface roughness of 70 nm is successfully fabricated on aluminum. The performance of the fabricated tool is compared with a commercial end mill tool by milling micro channels on stainless steel.

中文翻译：

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电火花加工微型立铣刀及其性能评价

摘要 与光刻、激光/电子/离子束加工等其他微细加工工艺相比，微铣削是一种快速、廉价且可控的工艺。然而，极小尺寸切削刀具的稀缺往往导致微加工技术的应用受到限制。 -铣削。在本研究中，电火花加工 (EDM) 用于制造微型立铣刀。为确保刀具的高尺寸精度，通过将碳化钨块复制到碳化钨 (WC) 块来进行参数研究。建立了块上的钻孔与微型工具上的特征之间的关系。报告了加工参数（电压、电容和主轴速度）对响应变量（入口直径、孔深度、材料去除率 (MRR) 和表面粗糙度）的影响。与其他选定的工艺参数相比，发现电容更占优势。使用参数研究中的优化参数，制造了直径为 100 µm 的 WC 微型立铣刀。在铝上成功制造了大约 110 µm 宽度、40 µm 深度和 70 nm 表面粗糙度的通道。通过在不锈钢上铣削微通道，将制造工具的性能与商用立铣刀工具进行比较。