Creating Surface Morphologies by Micro Milling and Micro Grinding

Micro cutting and micro abrasive processes are promising techniques to produce microstructured surfaces in a wide range of materials in a short time and in an economic way. However, due to occurring size effects, simply downscaling of known and mastered macro-scaled processes is not readily possible. At the same time, material removal at small scales holds challenges in observing and characterizing the process itself as well as the process results. Our investigations focused on developing methods and implementing measurement techniques to close the knowledge gap in micro milling and micro grinding. This article presents the development of customized machine tools, tools, processes as well as measurement equipment for micro milling with micro end mills with typical diameters of 50 \(\upmu \) m. It will be shown how and with which methods the process and its results can be optimized. Regarding micro grinding, special emphasis is on the manufacturing and application of micro pencil grinding tools via electroless plating, a process customized to produces tools with diameters down to 5 \(\upmu \) m.