Investigation of cutting force behaviour considering the effect of cutting edge radius in the micro-scale milling of AISI 1045 steel

This paper presents the cutting force behaviour resulting from the effect of cutting edge radius in the micro-scale milling of AISI 1045 steel using tungsten carbide tools. The cutting edge radius of the micro-milling tool is on the order of a few microns or submicrons; hence, the uncut chip thickness reaches the scale of cutting edge radius. Owing to the scaling effect, the cutting force behaviour is different from that in conventional-scale milling. Experiments are conducted with half-immersion milling that uses micro-milling tools. The feed-and normal-direction cutting forces are decomposed into the principal-and thrust-direction cutting forces. The cutting forces are analysed to investigate the effect of cutting edge radius. The minimum uncut chip thickness can be obtained by investigating the cutting force behaviour. Also, the characteristics of specific energies due to the size effect are evaluated for the micro-scale milling process.