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

Shakoori, Niusha; Fu, Guoyu; Le, Bao; Khaliq, Jibran; Jiang, Long; Huo, Dehong; Shyha, Islam

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 postprocessing
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.

Citation

Shakoori, N., Fu, G., Le, B., Khaliq, J., Jiang, L., Huo, D., & Shyha, I. (2021). An experimental investigation on tool wear behaviour of uncoated and coated micro-tools in micro-milling of graphene-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 113, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-06715-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 17, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 18, 2021
• Print ISSN: 0268-3768
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 113
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-06715-1
• Keywords: Graphene, Polymer nanocomposites, Micro-milling, Micro-end mill, Diamond-like carbon, Tool wear, Tool Coating, Cutting force, Surface roughness
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2744880