Mesoscale fabrication of a complex surface for integral impeller blades

Integral impeller is the most important component of a mini-engine. However, the machining of a mesoscale impeller with a complex integral surface is difficult because of its compact size and high accuracy requirement. A mesoscale component is usually manufactured by milling. However, a conventional milling tool cannot meet the machining requirements because of its size and stiffness. For the fabrication of a complex integral impeller, a micro-ball-end mill is designed in accordance with the non-instantaneous-pole envelope principle and manufactured by grinding based on the profile model of the helical groove and the mathematical model of the cutting edge curve. Subsequently, fractal theory is applied to characterize the surface quality of the integral impeller. The fractal theory-based characterization shows that the completed mesoscale integral impeller exhibits a favorable performance in terms of mechanical properties and morphological accuracy.