O fresamento de topo de aços ferramenta, no estado endurecido, pode ser uma alternativa para a fabricação de moldes e matrizes, com alta taxa de remoção. Este trabalho estuda os tipos e mecanismos de desgaste presentes nesta operação de usinagem, bem como o comportamento da emissão acústica. São realizados experimentos com ferramentas de PCBN e Metal Duro usinando os aços H13 (49-51 HRc), VMO (54-57 HRc) e VC131 (57-59 HRc). O desgaste das ferramentas de PCBN é significativamente menor que o desgaste das ferramentas de Metal Duro. O tipo de desgaste predominante é o desgaste de flanco, com indícios de desgastes de cratera. É observada uma combinação entre os mecanismos de desgaste abrasivo e adesivo. Não se observa a formação de trincas abaixo da superfície usinada. Verifica-se que a emissão acústica aumenta com a velocidade de corte e mostra-se também dependente do material da peça e da ferramenta. / The endmilling operation applied to the machining of hardened tool steels, can be seen as an alternative to the conventional sequence of operations used in dies and injection moulds. Normally, eletrodischarge machining, which has a low removal rate, is applied for the finishing operation, just before polishing. The present research work study the types and mechanisms of wear that appear in this machining operation, as well as, the behaviour of Acoustic Emission (EA). Experiments are carried out using PCBN and Carbide tools, machining AISI H13 (49-51 HRc), AISI 6F3 (54-57 HRc) e AISI D6 (57-59 HRc). The wear observed on the PCBN tools was smaller than that on the carbide ones. The type of wear dominating was flank wear, with some presence of crater wear in a few machining conditions. It was also observed a combination between the abrasive and the adhesive mechanisms. It was not noted any cracks on the surface just below the machined surface. The acoustic emission showed to be directly proportional to the cutting speed and also dependent upon the workpiece material and to the tool material.

O fresamento de topo de aços ferramenta, no estado endurecido, pode ser uma alternativa para a fabricação de moldes e matrizes, com alta taxa de remoção. Este trabalho estuda os tipos e mecanismos de desgaste presentes nesta operação de usinagem, bem como o comportamento da emissão acústica. São realizados experimentos com ferramentas de PCBN e Metal Duro usinando os aços H13 (49-51 HRc), VMO (54-57 HRc) e VC131 (57-59 HRc). O desgaste das ferramentas de PCBN é significativamente menor que o desgaste das ferramentas de Metal Duro. O tipo de desgaste predominante é o desgaste de flanco, com indícios de desgastes de cratera. É observada uma combinação entre os mecanismos de desgaste abrasivo e adesivo. Não se observa a formação de trincas abaixo da superfície usinada. Verifica-se que a emissão acústica aumenta com a velocidade de corte e mostra-se também dependente do material da peça e da ferramenta. / The endmilling operation applied to the machining of hardened tool steels, can be seen as an alternative to the conventional sequence of operations used in dies and injection moulds. Normally, eletrodischarge machining, which has a low removal rate, is applied for the finishing operation, just before polishing. The present research work study the types and mechanisms of wear that appear in this machining operation, as well as, the behaviour of Acoustic Emission (EA). Experiments are carried out using PCBN and Carbide tools, machining AISI H13 (49-51 HRc), AISI 6F3 (54-57 HRc) e AISI D6 (57-59 HRc). The wear observed on the PCBN tools was smaller than that on the carbide ones. The type of wear dominating was flank wear, with some presence of crater wear in a few machining conditions. It was also observed a combination between the abrasive and the adhesive mechanisms. It was not noted any cracks on the surface just below the machined surface. The acoustic emission showed to be directly proportional to the cutting speed and also dependent upon the workpiece material and to the tool material.

abstract: In this research, a new cutting edge wear estimator for micro-endmilling is developed and the reliabillity of the estimator is evaluated. The main concept of this estimator is the minimum chip thickness effect. This estimator predicts the cutting edge radius by detecting the drop in the chip production rate as the cutting edge of a micro- endmill slips over the workpiece when the minimum chip thickness becomes larger than the uncut chip thickness, thus transitioning from the shearing to the ploughing dominant regime. The chip production rate is investigated through simulation and experiment. The simulation and the experiment show that the chip production rate decreases when the minimum chip thickness becomes larger than the uncut chip thickness. Also, the reliability of this estimator is evaluated. The probability of correct estimation of the cutting edge radius is more than 80%. This cutting edge wear estimator could be applied to an online tool wear estimation system. Then, a large number of cutting edge wear data could be obtained. From the data, a cutting edge wear model could be developed in terms of the machine control parameters so that the optimum control parameters could be applied to increase the tool life and the machining quality as well by minimizing the cutting edge wear rate. In addition, in order to find the stable condition of the machining, the stabillity lobe of the system is created by measuring the dynamic parameters. This process is needed prior to the cutting edge wear estimation since the chatter would affect the cutting edge wear and the chip production rate. In this research, a new experimental set-up for measuring the dynamic parameters is developed by using a high speed camera with microscope lens and a loadcell. The loadcell is used to measure the stiffness of the tool-holder assembly of the machine and the high speed camera is used to measure the natural frequency and the damping ratio. From the measured data, a stability lobe is created. Even though this new method needs further research, it could be more cost-effective than the conventional methods in the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2019

Nowadays, the need for three-dimensional miniaturized components is increasing in many areas, such as electronics, biomedics, aerospace and defence, etc. To support the demands, various micro-scale fabrication techniques have been further introduced and developed over the last decades, including micro-electric-mechanical technologies (MEMS and LIGA), laser ablation, and miniature machine tools (mMTs). Each of these techniques has its own benefits, however miniature machine tools are superior to any others in enabling three-dimensional complex geometry with high relative accuracy, and the capability of dealing with a wide range of mechanical materials. Thus, mMTs are emerging as a promising fabrication process. In this work, various researches have been carried out based on the mMTs. The thesis presents micro-machining, in particular, micro-milling force model and three relevant subsystems for miniature machine tools (mMTs), to enhance machining productivity/efficiency and dimensional accuracy of machined parts. The comprehensive force model that predicts micro-endmilling dynamics has been developed. Unlike conventional macro-machining, the cutting mechanism in micro-machining is complex with high level of non-linearity due to the combined effects of edge radius, size, and minimum chip thickness effect, etc., resulting in no chip formation when the chip thickness is below the minimum chip forming thickness. Instead, part of the work material deforms plastically under the edge of a tool and the rest of the material recovers elastically. The developed force model for micro-endmilling is effective to understand the micro-machining process. As a result, the micro-endmilling force model is helpful to improve the quality of machined parts. In addition, three relevant subsystems which deliver maximum machining productivity and efficiency are also introduced. Firstly, ultrasonic atomization-based cutting fluid application system is introduced. During machining, cutting fluid is required at the cutting zone for cooling and lubricating the cutting tool against the workpiece. Improper cutting fluid application leads to significantly increased tool wear, and which results in overall poor machined parts quality. For the micro-machining, conventional cooling methods using high pressure cutting fluid is not viable due to the potential damage and deflection of weak micro-cutting tools. The new atomization-based cutting fluids application technique has been proven to be quite effective in machinability due to its high level of cooling and lubricating. Secondly, an acoustic emission (AE)-based tool tip positioning method is introduced. Tool tip setting is one of the most important factors to be considered in the CNC machine tool. Since several tools with different geometries are employed during machining, overall dimensional accuracy of the machined parts are determined by accurate coordinates of each tool tip. In particular, tool setting is more important due to micro-scale involved in micro-machining. The newly developed system for tool tip positioning determines the accurate coordinates of the tool tip through simple and easy manipulation. At last, with the advance of the 3D micro-fabrication technologies, the machinable miniaturized components are getting complex in geometry, leading to increased demand on dimensional quality control. However, the system development for micro-scale parts is slow and difficult due to complicated detection devices, algorithm, and fabrication of a micro-probe. Consequently, the entire dimensional probing system tends to become bulky and expensive. A new AE-based probing system with a wire-based probe was developed to address this issue with reduced cost and size, and ease of application. / Graduate