Cutting edge preparation of micro milling tools

Micro milling is commonly used industrially for the production of precision components. Premature tool wear is usually the reason for a short tool life of cemented carbide end mills. An approach to improve the tool wear behavior is the defined cutting edge preparation. In this contribution, experimental investigations on the formation of cutting edge geometry during immersed tumbling of micro milling tools are presented and discussed. It could be shown that it is possible to prepare end mills with a diameter D = 1 mm and to generate edge radii of 4.0 m r 31.2 m. Investigations about the correlations between the cutting edge geometry and the tool wear behavior in micro milling operations showed decreased flank and crater wear as a result of an appropriate cutting edge preparation.