Effect of Laser Preheating the

Workpiece on Micro end Milling

Yongho Jeon
Frank Pfefferkorn1
e-mail: pfefferk@engr.wisc.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Madison, WI 53706
of Metals
Micro end milling is a fast and direct method of creating net-shaped functional micro-
parts, micromolds, and prototypes. However, the small flexural stiffness, strength, and
hardness of the tool limit the efficiency of machining. It is not expected that a new
material with increased hardness and yield strength will be developed in the near future
that significantly improves the durability for tools manufactured with diameters in the
tens to hundreds of microns. To enable a significant increase in performance and pro-
ductivity requires higher spindle speeds and increased chiploads. However, an increase in
chipload is inhibited by the small flexural stiffness and strength of the tools: a direct
result of the tool diameter. Laser-assisted micro end milling has the potential to increase
the chipload and productivity by locally reducing the workpiece material’s yield strength
at the cutting location. This study examines the effect of laser preheating on micro end
milling of 6061-T6 aluminum and 1018 steel. Two-flute, 300 ␮m dia, carbide end mills
are used to cut 100 ␮m deep slots at a spindle speed of 40,000 rpm. The laser power and
chipload are varied to show their effect on cutting forces, specific cutting energy, burr
formation, surface finish, and temperature. The results are compared to the average
material removal temperature given by predictions made from a heat transfer model of
the workpiece undergoing laser preheating. Results indicate that chipload and produc-
tivity can be significantly increased during dry machining of 6061-T6 aluminum and
1018 steel by localized preheating of the workpiece. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.2783219兴

Introduction limited strength in bending of the micro end mills. In order to

The market size of the microelectromechanical systems
共MEMS兲 industry was estimated to be $8–15 billion per year in
2004 关1兴 due, in part, to the increased demands from the aerospace
and biomedical industries, which are driving innovation in minia-
turization technologies. Many researchers are investigating sev-
eral methods by which to improve the quality and economical
manufacture of miniaturized components. These include micro
end milling 关2–13兴, microelectrodischarge machining 关14–23兴,
solid free-form fabrication 关24–27兴, and the Lithographie, Gal-
vanoformung, Abformung 共LIGA兲 process 关28–32兴.
Solid free-form fabrication and LIGA methods are currently the
leading technologies for the production of MEMS, micro-/
mesoscale parts, and preproduction processes, such as mold mak-
ing. Although, these methods are still developing and have shown
good performance, they face challenges in creating parts out of
some engineering materials, such as steels, titanium alloys, and
fully sintered structural ceramics. Because of this, ultraprecision
machining technologies, which emerged from conventional manu-
facturing methods, are being applied to the production of minia-
turized parts.
Microscale milling offers a flexible and economical alternative
for producing meso-/microscale parts 关33兴. It is a direct method of
fabricating components 关20兴 that can produce fully three-
dimensional features 关34兴 particularly with the mesoscale machine
tool systems being developed 关35兴. Polymers 关20兴, metals and
metal alloys 关6–11,20,33,34,36,37兴, and presintered powder ce-
ramics 关36兴 have been successfully machined by micro end mill-
ing. A major challenge preventing increased productivity is the
1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Manufacturing Engineering Division of ASME for publication
in the JOURNAL OF MANUFACTURING SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. Manuscript received
April 18, 2006; final manuscript received August 5, 2007; published online January
30, 2008. Review conducted by Shreyes N. Melkote. Paper presented at the 2005
ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress 共IMECE2005兲, November
5–11, 2005, Orlando, FL.
avoid tool failure, the cutting forces must be kept below the tool’s
fracturing threshold resulting in limitations in the nominal chip-
load and feed rate. In the case of metals, locally preheating the
workpiece will reduce its yield strength, thereby reducing the cut-
ting forces, allowing for deeper cuts and larger chiploads, and
hence, higher feed rates.
Early research on workpiece preheating, in particular, laser-
assisted machining 共LAM兲, focused on improving the machinabil-
ity of stainless steels and nickel-based superalloys 关38–40兴. How-
ever, the low laser absorptivity of metals and additional cost for
operating the laser made the method economically unattractive. In
the early 1990s, LAM research refocused on machining of struc-
tural ceramics. König and Wageman 关41兴, König and Zaboklicki
关42兴, Rozzi et al. 关43兴, and Lei et al. 关44兴 demonstrated that LAM
of silicon nitride in turning operations provided significant advan-
tages, such as increased tool life and reduced forces compared to
conventional machining. Rebro et al. 关45兴 and Pfefferkorn et al.
关46兴 demonstrated that LAM can be successfully applied to the
machining of mullite and partially stabilized zirconia, respec-
tively, without fracture of the workpiece while still increasing ma-
chinability. The benefits of thermally assisted machining are not
limited to ceramics. Novak et al. 关47兴 and Shin and Kim 关48兴 have
shown that plasma-assisted turning of Inconel 718 results in im-
proved surface finish, longer tool life, and the ability to achieve
higher feed rates. Singh and Melkote 关49兴 have shown that laser-
assisted micromechanical machining can significantly reduce cut-
ting forces but also cause thermal expansion and negatively im-
pact surface roughness.
Laser-assisted micro end milling 共␮-LAM兲 is an emerging
manufacturing process that uses a laser to locally preheat the
workpiece prior to material removal with a micro end mill 共Fig.
1兲. The yield strength of ductile materials 共e.g., aluminum兲 de-
creases with increasing temperature 共Fig. 2兲, thereby reducing the
amount of mechanical energy required to remove a specific vol-
ume of material. For this reason, the ␮-LAM process has the
potential to increase micro end milling productivity of metals by

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Fig. 1 „a… Schematic of laser-assisted micro end milling and
„b… Boundary conditions and dimensions
enabling larger chiploads 共i.e., higher feed rates兲 without increas-
ing the magnitude of the forces acting on the tool. In other words,
the addition of thermal energy reduces the mechanical energy ex-
pended by the process.
The research discussed above has shown that micro end milling
can be used to make miniaturized parts in metals and polymers,
whereas laser-assisted machining has been shown to improve the
machinability of both metals and ceramics. This study explores
the effect of laser preheating on micro end milling of 6061-T6
aluminum and 1018 steel.
Fig. 2 Yield strength as a function of temperature for Al alloys
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Heat Transfer Model
A numerical simulation of laser-assisted micro end milling is
used to determine the experimental conditions needed to achieve
desired temperatures in the cutting zone. After the model is veri-
fied, it is used to predict the material removal temperature TMR
and relate it to changes in measured quantities 共i.e., forces and
surface finish兲 that enable the investigation of laser preheating.
The current heat transfer model of the workpiece undergoing
␮-LAM includes the same heat transfer modes 共conduction in the
workpiece with convection and radiation from the surfaces兲 as
models for macroscale LAM. The physics and governing equa-
tions of heat transfer are not new; however, workpieces, tools, and
chips in the micro-/mesoscale have a significantly larger surface
area to volume ratio than their macroscale counterparts. This re-
sults in shorter distances for energy to diffuse and more rapid
thermal response to heat input or removal.
It has proven difficult to model the cutting behavior in full
detail because there is no clear explanation concerning small-scale
material deformation and the interaction between the tool and
workpiece material during the machining process. For this reason,
the research has been initiated by developing a transient, three-
dimensional heat transfer model that predicts how the absorbed
laser energy is distributed in the workpiece. This is the most sig-
nificant aspect of the heat transfer model because the energy de-
posited by the laser 共100– 175 W兲 is significantly greater than that
generated in the primary and secondary shear zones 共⬍10 W兲 for
the operating conditions used in this study. Therefore, energy de-
posited by the laser is the dominant heat source and controls the
level of thermal assistance. The model relates the operating con-
ditions 共laser power, beam diameter, beam position, feed rate, and
depth of cut兲 to the average temperature in the material removal
region.
During the ␮-LAM experiment, several heat transfer modes are
active: conduction through the workpiece, convection and radia-
tion from the exposed workpiece surfaces, conduction through the
tool, advection by the chip, and heat generation in the cutting zone
due to friction and plastic deformation. This makes for a very
complicated conjugate heat transfer problem; however, this level
of complexity is not required for determining the relative effect of
different laser powers on the temperature near the machining
zone. Therefore, the initial model only takes into account heat
transfer in the workpiece: conduction in the workpiece, convec-
tion and radiation to the ambient surroundings, and laser absorp-
tion. Future work will couple this with heat transfer into the micro
end mill and the heat transfer between chips, the tool, and work-
piece, as they flow along the cutting flutes.
Figure 1 shows the experimental geometry: a full-width slot
being created by end milling in a rectangular workpiece. Because
of the size of the slot 共300 ␮m wide by 100 ␮m deep兲 the resis-
tance to conduction around it is minimal and an accurate solution
to the temperature field 共i.e., TMR兲 can be achieved by modeling a
solid workpiece without including the complexity of the removed
material in the slot. Only half of the workpiece is modeled by
taking advantage of symmetry present along the center of the slot.
The transient, three-dimensional governing heat transfer equa-
tion can be written as
␳C p
⳵T
⳵t
−k冉⳵ 2T ⳵ 2T ⳵ 2T
+ +
⳵ x2 ⳵ y 2 ⳵ z2
冊
=Q 共1兲
Specific heat, density, and thermal conductivity are assumed to be
linear functions of temperature 共Table 1兲. Equation 共2兲 represents
the boundary condition along the exposed surfaces of the work-
piece
共k ⵜ T兲 = q0 + h共T⬁ − T兲 + ␧␴共Tamb
4
− T 4兲 共2兲
where Tamb⫽temperature of surroundings 共=300 K兲 and
T⬁⫽temperature of ambient air 共=300 K兲.
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Material properties „T in Kelvin… †50,51‡ Table 3 Thermal model details

Al 6061-T6 Paint Al 6061-T6 Steel 1018

Density, ␳ 共Kg/ m3兲 −0.204T + 2769.8 871 Types of elements Triangular Triangular
Specific heat, C P 共J / kg K兲 1.0246T + 83.678 7.0608T + 973.08 Number of elements 4303 6142
Solution time 共s兲 70 120
Thermal conductivity, k 共W / m K兲 0.0266T + 191.28 0.0007T + 0.1624

All three terms on the right-hand side of Eq. 共2兲 are active in In order to verify the heat transfer model, temperature measure-
the laser heating zone: laser absorption, convection, and radiation. ments from laser heating experiments are obtained. Four K-type
For the remaining areas of the exposed surfaces 共top and sides兲, thermocouples are attached to the workpiece. To achieve good
there is no laser flux term 共q0 = 0兲. The plane of symmetry that thermal contact, 600 ␮m dia thermocouple beads are pressed into
corresponds with the centerline of the slot is treated as an adia- 500 ␮m dia holes 共200 ␮m deep兲. The holes are sealed with a
batic boundary, k ⵜ T = 0. The initial temperature of the workpiece high-temperature tape. The experimental parameters used for veri-
fication 共comparison of predicted and measured temperatures兲 are
is 300 K.
Free convection is assumed on all exposed surfaces and a con- 0.3 s of preheating time, cutting length of 5 mm 共heating only in
stant and uniform value is applied. Representative values of the the model兲, 500 mm/ min feed rate, and 160 W laser power.
operating conditions are provided in Table 2. The laser powers Figures 3 and 4 show similar qualitative trends of temperature
provided throughout this paper represent the total laser power in- change for all measurement locations, but there are quantitative
cident on the experimental workpiece and not the half value that is differences between the measured and predicted temperature his-
applied as input to the numerical simulation of half the symmetric tories. Some discrepancies are expected due to experimental un-
workpiece. The preheat time, t p = 0.3 s, and beam diameter, dl certainty in the laser spot size, incidence angle, thermocouple con-
tact area, and the estimation of the material properties as linear
= 1 mm, are held constant throughout the experiments and simu-
functions of temperature. However, the time delay between the
lations. The beam diameter is modeled as a rectangular area
curves is primarily a result of the ⬃0.5 s response time of the
共1 mm long⫻ 0.5 mm wide兲 with a uniform intensity. The multi-
mode Nd:YAG laser used in the experiments produces a nomi-
nally uniform intensity distribution.
A 50 ␮m thick paint layer is applied on the top of the work-
piece in order to absorb ⬃90% of incident 共␭ = 1064 nm兲 laser
energy 共Fig. 1兲. Because of the added thermal mass of the paint
layer, heat transfer to regions away from the laser spot is delayed
and the surface partially insulated. The paint that is used for this
experiment is a flat black milk-based paint 共Plaka, by Pelikan兲
whose thermophysical properties were measured for the authors
by TPRL, Inc. 共West Lafayette, IN兲. A linear curve fit to the spe-
cific heat and thermal conductivity data is shown in Table 1. Den-
sity changes with temperature were not measured. Experimental
observation indicates that most of the paint layer directly under
the laser spot “burns off” during an experiment, leaving a
submicron-thick paint layer on the workpiece surface. To accu-
rately model this without having to mesh an extremely thin re-
gion, an equivalent thermal conductivity 共keq = 200 W / m K兲 was
applied to the 50 ␮m layer at the laser spot location to numeri-
cally mimic a submicron-thick layer of paint. The latent heat of
vaporization for the paint is insignificant compared to the laser
energy being deposited and therefore neglected. The energy Fig. 3 Comparison of predicted and measured temperature for
equation is solved using the finite element method 共COMSOL Al 6061-T6 workpiece
MULTIPHYSICS兲.
To study thermal assistance in micro end milling, it is necessary
to predict the temperature immediately before material is removed
共i.e., material removal temperature TMR兲. This is the temperature
of the material entering the primary shear plane assuming that
none of the heat generated due to shearing conducts into the work-
piece. Because a portion of the heat generated in the primary shear
plan does conduct into the workpiece, the current model will
slightly underpredict TMR. The heat transfer model enables the
design of experiments that do not cause surface melting under the
laser impingement location and achieve a desirable TMR. Table 3
summarizes the thermal model details.

Table 2 Laser heating conditions

Al 6061–T6

Feed rate, f r 共mm/min兲 500

Laser power, Pl 共W兲 160
Convection coefficient, h 共W / m2 K兲 4.7 Fig. 4 Comparison of predicted and measured temperature for
Al 6061-T6 workpiece

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 Table 4 Nominal machining parameters

Al 6061-T6 Steel 1018

Tool two-flute, 304⫾ 1 ␮m dia

Spindle speed 共rpm兲 40,000⫾ 500
Depth of cut 共␮m兲 100⫾ 10
Laser spot diameter 共mm兲 1
Laser-tool distance 共mm兲 2
Chipload 共␮m兲 6.25 1.25

600 ␮m dia K-type thermocouple bead. Based on these results,

we have confidence that the simulation is accurately predicting
temperatures in the workpiece.

Experimental Apparatus
The heat source used for the ␮-LAM experiments is a 200 W
共continuous wave兲 Nd:YAG laser 共Lee laser, 8250MQ, 1064 nm
wavelength兲 with fiber optic beam delivery. A laser focusing unit Fig. 5 Chipload as a function of material removal temperature
for Al 6061-T6
capable of achieving a 1 mm dia spot size is used. A HeNe laser
that is coaxial with the Nd:YAG beam is used to aim the laser on
the workpiece material. A CNC milling machine 共HAAS model
TM1兲 with 5 ␮m positioning repeatability and a high-speed and 6 represents the observation after cutting a 5 mm long slot,
spindle 共NSK model HES500兲, which can reach up to 50,000 rpm whether the tool was intact or had failed. If a cut was successful
with a manufacturer-reported 1 ␮m run-out, are employed to 共tool survived兲, then the feed rate was increased and another cut
carry out the micro end milling operations; 300 ␮m dia, two-flute, made with a new tool. Each cut will result in some tool wear;
stub-length, tungsten carbide end mills 共PMT model TS-2- thus, to eliminate this effect, a new tool was used for each run.
0012-S兲 are used for the experiments. Based on the temperature-dependent yield strength ␴y of
Aluminum 6061-T6 共⬃60 ␮m average grain size兲 and 1018 6061-T6 aluminum 共Fig. 2兲, it is known that increasing the work-
steel 共⬃20 ␮m average grain size兲 blocks with dimensions of piece temperature to 550 K will reduce ␴y by ⬃70% from the
50.8 mm⫻ 50.8 mm⫻ 4.8 mm 共aluminum兲 and 50.8 mm magnitude at room temperature. That corresponds to a homolo-
⫻ 50.8 mm⫻ 1.64 mm 共steel兲 are used as the workpieces. After a gous temperature of TH = 0.65 based on a solidus temperature of
sample is mounted on the three-axis force dynamometer, its top 855 K for 6061-T6. It is expected that raising the local workpiece
surface is machined with a 5 / 16 in. dia 共8 mm兲 end mill to ensure temperature into the warm and hot working regimes will result in
flatness. The top surface of the samples have been coated with a a significant improvement in machinability. The heat transfer
flat black paint 共50 ␮m of Pelikan Plaka兲 in order to increase the model predicts that Pl = 160 W results in a material removal tem-
laser absorptivity 关52兴. Each experimental run consists of making perature of TMR = 437 K 共TH = 0.51兲 in aluminum, which is used as
a 5 mm long full-width slot in the workpiece with a depth of cut the thermally assisted condition in Fig. 5.
of 100 ␮m. The nominal operating conditions used, unless other- Unfortunately, temperature-dependent yield strength data for
wise noted in a figure, are shown in Table 4. 1018 steel could not be found. Therefore, it is assumed that the
Three-component cutting force measurements are made with a same homologous temperature will result in a similar decrease in
piezoelectric dynamometer and charge amplifier 共Kistler, models the yield strength as seen for 6061-T6. The heat transfer model
9265C2 and 5010兲. Three global axis forces 共x, y, and z兲 are predicts that a homologous temperature of TH = 0.65= 1152 K in
recorded at 60 kHz with a PC-based data acquisition system with 1018 steel 共Tsolidus = 1773 K兲 is achieved under the current operat-
an overall uncertainty of ⫾0.2 N. Because the force signal gener- ing conditions by applying 175 W of laser preheating. In Fig. 6,
ated by the milling process has a frequency 共1.3 kHz兲, which is
not significantly less than the natural frequency of the
dynamometer-vacuum chuck-workpiece system 共4 kHz兲, signal
attenuation will occur causing a magnitude and phase shift in the
measured signal. The magnitude of the signal attenuation is a
function of the damping ratio and ratio of the cutting frequency to
the natural frequency of the system. Although the data presented
here have not been corrected, the factors causing the attenuation
共spindle speed, mass of dynamometer-vacuum chuck-workpiece
system兲 are constant throughout all experiments. Hence, a com-
parative study of the cutting forces and specific cutting energy can
be conducted.

Results
Chipload. The maximum attainable chipload was studied by
using multiple tools, whose variation in diameter was within
⫾1 ␮m, to create a series of 5 mm long slots with increasing feed
rates. The chipload is defined as the maximum uncut chip thick-
ness. For 6061-T6 aluminum, two separate sets of experiments
were conducted at 0 W and 160 W of laser power 共Fig. 5兲. In the
case of 1018 steel, two series of tests were conducted with 0 W Fig. 6 Chipload as a function of material removal temperature
and 175 W of laser assistance 共Fig. 6兲. Each data point in Figs. 5 for 1018 steel

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 Fig. 7 Main cutting force at selected laser powers for Al Fig. 8 Thrust force at selected laser powers for Al 6061-T6
6061-T6

milling aluminum 6061-T6 under the current operating conditions,

this corresponds to the thermally assisted test condition. the average cutting and thrust forces are reduced by 39% and
During experiments in which aluminum is machined, it is found 36%, respectively, while the average material removal tempera-
that the tool can take up to a 7.5 ␮m chipload without laser- ture TMR is increased from room temperature to 437 K. Similarly,
assistance before fracturing 共Fig. 5兲. However, when the work- in 1018 steel, the average cutting and thrust forces are reduced by
piece is locally preheated to ⬃437 K, the same tool 共300 ␮m, 32% and 56%, respectively, while the average material removal
two-flute, carbide兲 can take a 13.75 ␮m chipload. In steel, the tool temperature is increased from room temperature to 1140 K. All
can achieve a 4.38 ␮m chipload during unassisted end milling and force plots show that the average and peak forces decrease as
material removal temperature increases.
a 6.25 ␮m chipload when machining material preheated to
The dynamic force data presented for micro end milling of
⬃1140 K 共Fig. 6兲. The maximum achievable chiploads increase
1018 steel 共Figs. 9 and 10兲 clearly show a high-frequency com-
45.5% and 30% when machining aluminum and steel, respec-
ponent. At 0 W 共no laser兲 and 100 W of laser assistance, there is
tively, with thermal assistance. The results confirm the hypothesis
that laser-assisted micro end milling can increase the machinabil- a dominant dynamic response of the system at 10 kHz. The domi-
ity of various metals. nant frequency decreases to 8 kHz and 6 kHz with laser powers of
The possibility of increasing the chipload in micro end milling 150 W and 175 W, respectively. These frequencies suggest that
does not only positively impact the productivity of the method by the machining parameters chosen for the steel samples resulted in
decreasing machining time, it will also have a positive effect on an unstable machining process, which will also have an impact on
tool life. When the local uncut chip thickness is comparable to the the final surface roughness of the channels. There is always a
cutting edge radius 共⬃2 ␮m on the tools used in this study兲, then danger of this instability being caused by the end mill temperature
material is removed more by ploughing than cutting 关6,34,53兴. increasing to a point where the bending stiffness is significantly
Compared to cutting, ploughing will result in a greater wear rate
per unit time or volume of material removed. Therefore, increas-
ing the chipload while maintaining the same cutting forces is ex-
pected to increase tool life, particularly for high-strength materials
such as tool steels and superalloys.
Cutting Forces. The cutting and thrust force measurements
provide another method by which to evaluate the effect of laser
assistance on micro end milling. The force dynamometer directly
measures the global x-, y-, and z-directional forces acting on the
workpiece. The x and y forces have been subsequently converted
into cutting and thrust forces in order to produce data that can be
directly related to the rotating cutting edge of the micro end mill.
The starting point of conversion to thrust 共radial兲 and cutting 共tan-
gential兲 forces is defined as the location where one flute disen-
gages and the other engages the workpiece, and it is assumed that
the cutting edges are moving parallel to the y-axis at 0 deg. The
dynamic and time-averaged forces are plotted in Figs. 7–10. Ex-
periments have been performed at various laser powers in order to
examine the impact of laser-assistance on the cutting force. Laser
powers of 0 W 共no laser兲, 100 W, 160 W, and 175 W have been
used on aluminum while 0 W 共no laser兲, 100 W, 150 W, and
175 W have been used on steel.
Figures 7–10 clearly show that laser-assisted machining is a Fig. 9 Main cutting force at selected laser powers for 1018
promising method for reducing cutting forces. While micro end steel

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Fig. 10 Thrust force at selected laser powers for 1018 steel
decreased. In this case the instability is seen when there is no laser
assistance and each 5 mm long cut is completed in ⬍5 s. There-
fore, the probability that the preheating is causing the instability is
unlikely. In future work, the temperature of the end mill will be
modeled to determine the effect of preheating on the tool stiffness.
The preheating does appear to have an impact on the dominant
frequency as the peak shifts to lower frequencies with increasing
laser assistance. This effect is caused by decreasing yield strength
of the steel workpiece and bending stiffness of the micro end mill.
Which of the effects is dominant will be studied in future work.
Figure 11 shows that the cutting force for aluminum decreases
monotonically until TMR = 437 K. The thrust force has a generally
decreasing trend except for the data point at TMR = 437 K 共160 W兲
of laser preheating. The reason for the excursion of this data point
from the trend of decreasing average force with increasing mate-
rial removal temperature is not known. Figure 12 shows that both
cutting and thrust forces in steel experiments have a similar trend
with that of aluminum experiments. At TMR = 885 K, both forces
deviate from the trend of decreasing forces. At TMR ⬎ 885 K, the
average forces decrease again. The cause of these plateaus and
Fig. 11 Averaged cutting forces as a function of laser power
for Al 6061-T6
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Fig. 12 Averaged cutting forces as a function of laser power
for 1018 steel
small increase of forces is not known at this time and will be
investigated further. The microstructure changes between the laser
heating and cutting locations, and cutting mechanism changes by
the softened material adhering to and clogging on the tool are
possible reasons for the force trends and will be investigated in
ongoing studies.
These results validate that laser preheating can increase the ma-
chinability by reducing the cutting forces. Combined with the
chipload results, this indicates that by thermally assisting the pro-
cess, the chipload can be increased while maintaining the same
load on the tool.
Specific Cutting Energy. Specific cutting energy uc represents
the mechanical energy 共delivered through the tool兲 required to
remove a volume of material. It is calculated by
Fc,aveVc
uc = 共3兲
d Tt m f r
where Fc,ave⫽average cutting force 共N兲.
A reduction in uc indicates that less mechanical energy is being
delivered through the tool, and hence, the average cutting forces
are decreasing. Increasing TMR from room temperature to 437 K
reduces the specific cutting energy by 39% 共Fig. 13兲 for Al 6061-
T6. When thermally assisting micro end milling of 1018 steel, uc
decreases by 32% when TMR is increased from room temperature
to 1140 K 共Fig. 14兲. The trends in Figs. 13 and 14 mirror those of
the average cutting forces in Figs. 11 and 12.
The decrease in uc with increasing temperature indicates that
the addition of thermal energy decreases the amount of mechani-
cal energy needed to affect material removal. Further investiga-
tions will attempt to determine the impact of preheating on the
cutting energy for different local chip thicknesses. This is particu-
larly important for micro end milling because even with a maxi-
mum uncut chip thickness 共chipload兲 that is greater than the tool’s
cutting edge radius a significant portion of the cut is being made at
local chip thicknesses less than or comparable to the edge radius.
Burr, Surface Roughness, and Tool Life. Laser-assisted micro
end milling has yielded some advantages 共e.g., increased chipload
capability, reduced cutting forces, reduced specific cutting en-
ergy兲; however, some disadvantages can exist that are related to
burr formation 共Fig. 15兲 and surface roughness 共Figs. 16 and 17兲.
The hotter the workpiece material becomes, the greater its pro-
pensity to adhere to the tool 共particularly tungsten carbide 共WC兲兲
and machined surface. Adhered chips can effectively blunt the
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 13 Specific cutting energy as a function of material re-
moval temperature in Al 6061-T6
cutting edge, clog flutes, and result in metal-metal rubbing, result-
ing in increased tool wear and surface roughness. Burr formation
is caused by lateral deformation in material, chip bending, and
chip tearing 关6兴. All of which have a greater likelihood of occur-
ring when machining temperatures are increased.
The homologous temperature TH is a good index by which to
indicate the amount of thermal assistance introduced into the sys-
tem. As TH increases, the amount of burr formation is significantly
increased in the aluminum samples 共Fig. 15共a兲 and 15共b兲兲 but not
as much in steel 共Fig. 15共c兲 and 15共d兲兲. These observations indi-
cate that burr formation is related to material characteristics and
temperature. When machining aluminum, it may not be desirable
to apply thermal assistance unless a method of avoiding the burr
formation or a post-processing step can be employed. However,
for stronger metals, such as steel, the benefits of increasing pro-
ductivity might outweigh the increase in burr formation.
The surface roughness of the bottom of the machined slots was
measured with a white-light interferometer 共Zygo NewView
6300兲. The surface roughness depends on the width and length of
measurement, and the calculation scheme 共line or area average兲.
Figures 16 and 17 show that laser preheating may, under certain
Fig. 14 Specific cutting energy as a function of material re-
moval temperature in 1018 steel
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering
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Fig. 15 Micrograph of channels showing surface texture and
burrs
circumstances, increase surface roughness. While measuring the
surface roughness of the aluminum, the burrs blocked the optical
path to a portion of the channel bottom. For this reason, it was
difficult to get the same area and position of measurement for
each channel. The measured width varied from 0.04 mm to
0.12 mm, and the length varied from 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm; however,
the starting position of the measurement remained constant 共2 mm
from the beginning of the channel兲. When measuring the surface
roughness of the steel, on the other hand, there were no burrs
obstructing the view and repeatable measurements 共0.3 mm
width⫻ 0.5 mm length and 2 mm from the beginning of the chan-
nel兲 could be made.
When micro end milling aluminum 6061-T6 under the current
operating conditions, the area average surface roughness Ra is
increased from 0.32 ␮m to 0.64 ␮m when the average material
removal temperature TMR is increased from room temperature to
414 K; however, there does not appear to be a clear relationship
between laser power and surface roughness 共Fig. 16兲. The steel
experiments, on the other hand, do show a qualitative trend that
the surface roughness increases with increasing laser power. In
Fig. 16 Surface roughness change with different material re-
moval temperature for Al 6061-T6
FEBRUARY 2008, Vol. 130 / 011004-7
 TMR is increased from 300 K to 437 K and 1018 steel saw a
30% increase when TMR increased from 300 K to 1140 K.
2. When micro end milling aluminum 6061-T6 under the cur-
rent operating conditions, the average thrust and cutting
forces are reduced by 36% and 39%, respectively, when TMR
increases from 300 K to 437 K. Similarly, when cutting
1018 steel, the average thrust and cutting forces reduced by
56% and 32%, respectively, when TMR increased from
300 K to 1140 K.
3. Aluminum 6061-T6 and steel 1018 show 39% and 32% re-
ductions in the specific cutting energy, respectively, for the
same cutting temperature ranges mentioned above.
4. Laser assistance enables increased chiploads, reduced cut-
ting forces, and reduced specific cutting energy, but it can
increase burr formation and surface roughness. Although the
results cannot provide the quantitative information, the laser
preheating can increase the burr formation and surface
roughness under most operating conditions in this study.

Important questions that remain to be answered and/or require

Fig. 17 Surface roughness change with different material re- further inquiry about ␮-LAM include the effect of preheating on
moval temperature for 1018 steel microstructure, surface roughness, tool wear, machining dynam-
ics, and tolerance. The heat transfer model of the workpiece will
also be improved and eventually coupled with models of the tool
particular, the area averaged surface roughness increases with and chip formation process in order to gain an understanding of
temperature, from 0.1 ␮m to 0.19 ␮m when TMR is increased the heat transfer occurring in the micro end milling cutting pro-
from room temperature to 1140 K. This change in average surface cesses.
roughness also corresponds to the decrease in the dominant high-
frequency component in the force data. Acknowledgment
The increase in surface roughness with increasing temperature Support of this work by the SME Education Foundation
indicates that the addition of thermal energy causes the material to through Research Initiation Grant No. R5012 and the University
soften and adhere to the tool edge, increasing the tool edge radius. of Wisconsin–Madison is gratefully acknowledged. The authors
This increases the likelihood of plowing to occur rather than cut- would also like to acknowledge David Burton of Performance
ting, which typically causes a rougher surface finish. Further in- Micro Tool, Inc., for providing micro end mill tools and Derek
vestigations will attempt to determine an improved method for Wissmiller for proofing the paper.
measuring surface roughness in addition to characterizing the im-
pact of preheating on built-up edge formation and cutting
mechanisms. Nomenclature
An attempt was made to quantify tool life for these experiments Cp ⫽ specific heat 共J / kg K兲
based on the number of successful 50 mm long channels that dl ⫽ laser spot diameter 共m兲
could be machined before the tool failed catastrophically. How- dT ⫽ tool diameter 共m兲
ever, the scatter in the experimental data was so great, in both Fc ⫽ main cutting force 共N兲
aluminum and steel samples, and an insufficient number of rep- Ft ⫽ thrust force 共N兲
etitions have been run to date, it is difficult to draw conclusions at fr ⫽ feed rate 共m/s兲
this time. The variance of aluminum is from 5 to 22 channels h ⫽ convection coefficient 共W / m2 K兲
共each 50 mm long兲, and that of steel is from 9 to 21 channels k ⫽ thermal conductivity 共W / m K兲
under the current-unassisted cutting conditions. These results in- Pl ⫽ laser power 共W兲
dicate that tool life testing needs a statistically significant number Q ⫽ volumetric heat generation 共W / m3兲
of experimental data, which are being collected.
q0 ⫽ heat flux from laser 共W / m2兲
It was also found that laser assistance reduces the dimensional
accuracy of the channels produced. Measurements of the channel TH ⫽ homologues temperature
width showed that the laser-assisted channel widths increased be- TM ⫽ melting temperature 共K兲
tween 2 ␮m and 3 ␮m in aluminum and 1 ␮m and 4 ␮m in steel, TMR ⫽ material removal temperature 共K兲
compared to those produced without thermal assistance. tm ⫽ depth of cut 共m兲
tp ⫽ preheat time 共s兲
uc ⫽ specific cutting energy 共J / m3兲
Conclusions Vc ⫽ cutting velocity 共m/s兲
This work has shown that locally preheating a metal workpiece, Symbols
even a relatively soft metal, can reduce the specific cutting energy
␧ ⫽ emissivity
enabling a micro end mill to achieve significantly higher feed
␳ ⫽ density 共kg/ m3兲
rates and levels of productivity. The main finding of this research
is that, even though micromachining 共e.g., micro end milling兲 has ␴ ⫽ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
a higher surface area to cut volume ratio than macroscale machin- 共5.67⫻ 10−8 W / m2 K4兲
ing, the reduction in flow stress of the preheated workpiece is ␴y ⫽ yield strength 共MPa兲
greater than any increase in friction or adhesion. Other specific
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