Experimental Study on the Minimum Undeformed Chip Thickness Based on Effective Rake Angle in Micro Milling

Micro milling is widely used to manufacture micro parts due to its obvious advantages. The minimum undeformed chip thickness, the effective rake angle, and size effect are the typical characteristics and closely related to each other in micro milling. In this paper, the averaging method is proposed to quantitatively estimate the effective rake angle in the cutting process. The minimum undeformed chip thickness is explained based on the effective rake angle and determined to be 0.17 r(n) (tool cutting edge radius). Then, micro milling experiment was conducted to study the effect of the minimum undeformed chip thickness. It is found that the minimum undeformed chip thickness results in the unstable cutting process, the uneven peaks on cutting force signal, and the dense characteristic frequency distribution on frequency domain signal. The dominant ploughing effect induces the great specific cutting energy and the deteriorated surface roughness due to the minimum undeformed chip thickness.