Experimental Investigation of Mechanical Micro Machining for AL6061-T6 Material

This paper is to experimentally investigate the mechanical micro machining properties of AL6061-T6 using tungsten-carbide micro end mills. The cutting simulation based on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method is also conducted to estimate cutting forces, cutting temperature, and minimum chip thicknesses. The simulation results are used for the determination of experimental machining conditions such as depth of cut, feed rates and cutting speeds. A number of slot micro-milling experiments were performed using 400um diameter micro end mills on a 3 Axis CNC machining center attached with a high precision and high speed spindle unit. The machined surface quality, geometric feature shape, cutting burr generation as well as build-up edges are observed in the cutting experiments. Optimum cutting parameters for a better surface quality and smaller burr sizes are suggested.