An experimental investigation on tool wear behaviour of uncoated and coated micro-tools in micro-milling of graphene-reinforced polymer nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanomaterials such as graphene have been added to various matrices to enhance mechanical, thermal and electrical properties for various applications requiring intricate designs at the micro-scale. At this scale, mechanical micro-machining is utilised as post-processing to achieve high surface quality and dimensional accuracy while still maintaining high productivity. Therefore, in this study, the machinability of polymer nanocomposites in micro-scale (micro-machinability) is investigated. Graphene (0.3 wt%)-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites were fabricated using traditional solution mixing and moulding. The samples were then subjected to micro-milling at various cutting speeds using three different micro-tools, including uncoated, diamond and diamond-like carbon (DLC) tools. Mechanical and thermal properties of nanocomposite were also used to support the discussions. The result indicates that the DLC-coated tool shows better performance than the other tools for less tool wear, improved surface quality and less cutting forces.

Machinability investigation of polymer/GNP nanocomposites in micro-milling

“…Xu et al [30] investigated the machinability of CFRP composites using a drilling method, and Le et al [31] studied the machinability of polymer/carbon nanotube nanocomposites by observing chip formation, surface morphology and cutting force profiles as well as calculating specific cutting energy. For polymer/GNP nanocomposites, Shakoori et al [32] presented results showing the effect of tool wear and tool types on machined surface accuracy, while Fu et al [33] studied the effect of feed per tooth on machined surface accuracy of nanocomposites, and Shyha et al [34] presented experimental results from the micro-machining of polyester/halloysite nano-clay nanocomposites. The evaluations conducted include the quality of machined surfaces characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the monitoring of cutting forces using force dynamometry and surface roughness measurement using both contact and non-contact techniques.…”

Micro-end-milling of carbon nanotube reinforced epoxy nanocomposites manufactured using three roll mill technique

“…micro-drilling, micro-turning or micro-milling) are deemed to be necessary to provide sufficient quality of machined surface or dimensional accuracy as post-processes. However, micromachining of nanocomposites seemed to be a complicated process due to the anisotropic, heterogeneous structure of workpiece materials [20] and thermo-mechanical reinforcements of nano-filler [23].…”