Abstract
The demand for miniaturized components is on the rise, especially from the biomedical and aerospace industry. As a result, there is a strong research potential towards the micro-manufacturing of biomedical and aerospace components. Titanium-based alloys are known for their biocompatibility and high strength-to-weight ratio, making them most suitable for such applications. In this research, flank wear progression, surface roughness and side burrs, the basic performance parameters of a typical micromachining operation, are presented and analysed through analysis of variance in order to determine the key process parameters. It was found that micromachining can be classified into two categories: micromachining with undeformed chip thickness below the tool edge radius and micromachining keeping the undeformed chip thickness above the tool edge radius. The results showed that when machining with undeformed chip thickness above edge radius, the feedrate remains the most significant parameter affecting tool wear (41% contribution ratio), surface roughness (83%) and burr width (80%). This result places this type of machining closer to macro-machining where feed contribution was found to be 69%, 92% and 75% as against micromachining below edge radius, where contributions stood at 17%, 53% and 52% on tool wear, surface roughness and burr width, respectively. The results underscored the importance of considering the tool edge radius in micromachining.