DefinePK

Abstract

Thermal assisted machining has been reported to be effective in machining performance enhancement on wide range of processing materials. It includes polymers, ceramics and metals. The machining performance could differ due to the variation on material behavior against temperature increment. Among heat induction methods, laser is reported to have high flexibility to be focused and to heat up an extremely restricted area. However, the heat generated by the laser irradiation could give different impact to the machining performance, depends on the laser beam characteristics. Heated work piece surface behaves differently during the machining process due to softening effect. Furthermore, the work piece made from metals has a tendency to acts as plastic at micro level than macro level. In this situation, tool design and size exhibit significant effect to the machining characteristics. In this study, micro ball end milling tools were used to produce linear deep groove. The machining performance between laser assisted micro milling (LAµM) and conventional micro milling (Conv. µMill) were compared and discussed. It is found out that these two machining methods produced different chips pattern which has significant relation to the tool wear and cutting force changes.