Effects of different chamfered cutting edges of micro end mill on cutting performance

Tool life is a significant issue for the application of micro mills. Optimizing cutting edge geometries of micro mill is an effective way to improve tool life. This paper investigates the effects of different chamfered cutting edges of micro mill on the tool cutting performance. A series of slot milling experiments are conducted on aluminum alloy 7075 by using micro mills with various cutting edge chamfer lengths, and the tool wear and surface roughness are measured. The results show that the cutting edge chamfer of micro mill can improve the tool life. For the micro mill fabricated with sharp cutting edge, the fracture of cutting edge easily occurs resulting in the tool early broken. As the cutting edge chamfer length is bigger, the tool life becomes longer, but the tool flank wear width increases due to the higher stress in cutting region. However, the effects of various cutting edge chamfer lengths on surface roughness are not obviously found.