Micromachining of Stainless Steel

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Dirk Biermann
• Subject Area: Metal-Cutting and Abrasive Manufacturing Engineering
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 157780571

Mechanical micromachining is an efficient process for the fabrication of micro system components made of austenitic stainless steel. In contrast to processes like the electrical discharge machining (EDM) micromilling features a high material removal rate, high flexibility and low tool costs. Because of the considerably reduced tool strength and tool stiffness of the micromilling tools machining guidelines from macromachining cannot be transferred to micromachining. Furthermore the roundness of the cutting edge has to be taken into consideration when planning the micromachining process.Since the production of microstructures features non stationary engagement conditions and the application of CAM software essential, the suitability of CAM strategies for micromilling application has to be evaluated. Furthermore the identification of critical tool engagement situations which cause tool breakage is an important task. By combining specific experiments to identify these critical tools loads and the ISF software NCChip it is possible to identify those engagement situation and virtually optimize the cutting parameters to ensure process stability and productivity. Due to its highly different requirements regarding the process design, the qualification of the 5-axis-micromilling needs an individual basic experimental analysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants