Fabrication of micro-cBN end mill and improvement of micromilling performance by application of ultrasonic vibration cutting

In this study, we investigated a technique for precision machining of microgrooves and pockets on hardened materials with a high aspect ratio. First, we studied fabrication of micro-end mill made of sintered cBN as a super hard material. We obtained micro-cBN end mills with a diameter of 30 μm and an aspect ratio of 5. Second, we studied a cutting technique using the fabricated micro-cBN end mills. We applied an ultrasonic cutting method to the above micromachining. The results indicated that the micromachining of grooves and pockets with a high aspect ratio can be realized by applying the ultrasonic cutting method using the fabricated micro-cBN end mills.