Advances in micro cutting tool design and fabrication

Microcutting is a precision technology that offers flexible fabrication of microfeatures or complex three-dimensional components with high machining accuracy and superior surface quality.This technology may offer great potential as well as advantageous process capabilities for the machining of hard-to-cut materials,such as tungsten carbide.The geometrical design and dimension of the tool cutting edge is a key factor that determines the size and form accuracy possible in the machined workpiece.Currently,the majority of commercial microtools are scaled-down versions of conventional macrotool designs.This approach does not impart optimal performance due to size effects and associated phenomena.Consequently,in-depth analysis and implementation of microcutting mechanics and fundamentals are required to enable successful industrial adaptation in microtool design and fabrication methods.This paper serves as a review of recent microtool designs,materials,and fabrication methods.Analysis of tool performance is discussed,and new approaches and techniques are examined.Of particular focus is tool wear suppression in the machining of hard materials and associated process parameters,including internal cooling and surface patterning techniques.The review concludes with suggestions for an integrated design and fabrication process chain which can aid industrial microtool manufacture.

Conventional and micro scale finite element modeling for metal cutting process:A review

The metal cutting process is accompanied by complex stress field,strain field,temperature field.The comprehensive effects of process parameters on chip morphology,cutting force,tool wear and residual stress are complex and inter-connected.Finite element method(FEM)is considered as an effective method to predict process variables and reveal microscopic physical phenomena in the cutting process.Therefore,the finite element(FE)simulation is used to research the conventional and micro scale cutting process,and the differences in the establishment of process variable FE simulation models are distinguished,thereby improving the accuracy of FE simulation.The reliability and effectiveness of FE simulation model largely depend on the accuracy of the simulation method,constitutive model,friction model,damage model in describing mesh element,the dynamic mechanical behavior of materials,the tool-chip-workpiece contact process and the chip formation mechanism.In this paper,the FE models of conventional and micro process variables are comprehensively and up-to-date reviewed for different materials and machining methods.The purpose is to establish a FE model that is more in line with the real cutting conditions,and to provide the possibility for optimizing the cutting process variables.The development direction of FE simulation of metal cutting process is discussed,which provides guidance for future cutting process modeling.

New Cutting Technique of Making Collembola Glass Specimens

A new technique, involving tool making, clearing, staining, cutting and mounting specimens on slides, was described for studying Collembola taxonomy. It could resolve the problem of observing Collembola glass specimens under standard optical microscopy, because the phase-contrast microscope has not been available for all researchers. A type of micro cutting probe （about 1 μm in tip diameter） was designed, and it made the cutting method go from two-handed to one-handed, which was a huge step forward in the cutting method of Collembola. The micro cutting probe was custom designed for Collembola using two electric grinders, followed by ferric tannate staining with a stable blue color, mounting in specialized solutions and sealing with a neutral quick-drying gum. We also described a method to make glass capillary extractor and glass capillary brush to make sure a better condition of cleared specimens.

Fabrication of Ordered Micro/Nanostructures Using Probe‑Based Force‑Controlled Micromachining System

This paper presents a probe-based force-controlled nanoindentation method to fabricate ordered micro/nanostructures.Both the experimental and finite element simulation approaches are employed to investigate the influence of the interval between the adjacent indentations and the rotation angle of the probe on the formed micro/nanostructures.The non-contacting part between indenter and the sample material and the height of the material pile-up are two competing factors to determine the depth relationship between the adjacent indentations.For the one array indentations,nanostructures with good depth consistency and periodicity can be formed after the depth of the indentation becoming stable,and the variation of the rotation angle results in the large difference between the morphology of the formed nanostructures at the bottom of the one array indentation.In addition,for the indentation arrays,the nanostructures with good consistency and periodicity of the shape and depth can be generated with the spacing greater than 1μm.Finally,Raman tests are also carried out based on the obtained ordered micro/nanostructures with Rhodamine probe molecule.The indentation arrays with a smaller spacing lead to better the enhancement effect of the substrate,which has the potential applications in the fields of biological or chemical molecular detection.