Microstructure grooves with a width of less than 50 μm cut with ground hard metal micro end mills

Mechanical microengineering is an easy and cheap way to fabricate microstructures; for example, molds for injection molding or hot embossing. Restrictions remain in the selection of materials and in the minimum structure size. Especially for cutting microstructures in steel, these limitations includ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPrecision engineering Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 229 - 235
Main Authors Schaller, Th, Bohn, L, Mayer, J, Schubert, K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.10.1999
Elsevier Science
Subjects
Applied sciences
Burr removal
Diamond cutting
Electrochemical polishing
Electrolytic polishing
Exact sciences and technology
Injection molding
Mechanical engineering. Machine design
Mechanical microengineering
Micro end mills
Microstructures
Milling (machining)
Molds
Molds for injection molding or hot embossing
Precision engineering
Precision engineering, watch making
Mechanical microengineering
Electrochemical polishing
Micro end mills
Burr removal
Microstructures
Molds for injection molding or hot embossing
Diamond cutting
Forming tool
Embossing
Precision engineering
Diamond tool
Deburring
Micromachining
Electrochemical machining
Polishing
Injection mold
Milling
Cutting tool
Miniaturization
Production process
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Summary:Mechanical microengineering is an easy and cheap way to fabricate microstructures; for example, molds for injection molding or hot embossing. Restrictions remain in the selection of materials and in the minimum structure size. Especially for cutting microstructures in steel, these limitations included the lack of available small tools and the poor surface quality. We discovered that microstructures can be cut in both brass and stainless steel workpieces by using ground hard metal micro end mills. The minimum groove width achieved is less than 50 μm for cutting brass and about 100 μm for cutting stainless steel. Burrs are removed by a subsequent diamond-cutting step or electrochemical polishing, respectively. Our results represent the first step toward a microstructured, resistant, and cheap mold made of steel, which is then used for mass production of plastic microstructures.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0141-6359
1873-2372
DOI:10.1016/S0141-6359(99)00011-2