Abstract

Elastomers have visco-elastic behavior and are widely used in general utility as well as sophisticated applications. Generally, elastomer components are produced by molding process. But it is not economical for complicated geometrical elastomeric components of small batch size. Hence, machining is an alternative method of the molding. However, high elasticity, low Young’s modulus and low thermal conductivity in addition to the difficulty of holding elastomer component hinder its machining. To address these challenges, in last two decades, cryogenic assisted milling/turning, cryogenic abrasive jet micromachining (CAJM), ultra-high-pressure water jet machining and low-power CO₂ laser cutting were reported and noticed that both machining parameters and cryogenic condition affect the quality of the end-product. The structure-property changes on the surface of elastomer due to cryogenic condition helps in improvement of cutting force, erosion rate, chip formation, surface morphology, and reduction in the abrasive particle embedding at the machined surface. In addition to this, cryogenic assisted machining is a safe environmental alternative approach and it reduces the possibility of abrasive contamination at the machined surface. Hence, this article makes a comprehensive review of developments in elastomer machining over the last two decades and discusses the pros and cons of the same.

摘要

弹性体具有粘弹性行为，并且广泛用于一般用途以及复杂的应用中。通常，弹性体组分是通过模制工艺生产的。但是，对于小批量的复杂几何形状的弹性体组件而言，这是不经济的。因此，机加工是模制的替代方法。但是，高弹性，低杨氏模量和低导热率以及难以保持弹性体成分的问题也妨碍了其加工。为了应对这些挑战，在过去的二十年中，进行了低温辅助铣削/车削，低温磨料射流微加工（CAJM），超高压水射流加工和低功率CO ₂报告了激光切割，并注意到加工参数和低温条件都会影响最终产品的质量。由于低温条件，弹性体表面的结构性质变化有助于改善切削力，腐蚀速率，切屑形成，表面形态，并减少嵌入机械加工表面的磨料颗粒。除此之外，低温辅助加工是一种安全的环境替代方法，它减少了加工表面上的磨料污染的可能性。因此，本文全面回顾了过去二十年中弹性体加工的发展，并讨论了其优缺点。