Analytical and experimental study of surface quality and force variation characteristics of polycarbonate on micro-milling process
摘要
Micro-milling is an efficient technological approach to achieve high-quality and low-cost batch preparation of polymer micro-fluidic chips. This work provides the material removal mechanism and cutting thickness formation process for micro-milling polymer micro-fluidic channels. It also establishes a theoretical model of cutting thickness that takes tool runout, tool trajectory, and experimental factors into account. Based on the proposed theoretical model of cutting thickness, a milling force model considering friction was created and validated using polycarbonate micro-milling experiments, which was able to control the prediction error of micro-milling force within 11%. The effects of micro-milling process parameters on surface quality, profile accuracy, slot bottom morphology, and micro-milling forces were further investigated. The results of the study are crucial to promote the engineering application of micro-milling technology in micro-fluidic chip preparation.