J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.

• Invited Review
State of the Art on Micromilling of Materials, a Review
M.A. Câmara1) , J.C. Campos Rubio1) , A.M. Abrão1) and J.P. Davim2)†
1) Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627–Pampulha,
Belo Horizonte MG, CEP: 31.270-901, Brazil
2) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro,
Portugal
[Manuscript received July 22, 2012]

J. Paulo Davim received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Porto in 1997 and the Aggregation from the University of Coimbra
in 2005. Currently, he is an Aggregate Professor at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering of the University of Aveiro and the Head of MACTRIB-Machining
and Tribology Research Group. He has 25 years of teaching and research ex-
perience in manufacturing, materials and mechanical engineering with special
emphasis on Machining & Tribology. Currently, he has also interest in sus-
tainable manufacturing and industrial engineering. He is the editor in chief
of six international journals, guest editor of journals, books editor, book series
editor and scientific advisory for many international journals and conferences.
Presently, he is an editorial board member of 20 international journals and acts as
a reviewer for more than 70 prestigious ISI Web of Science journals. In addition, he has also published as an
author and co-author more than 30 book chapters and 350 articles in journals and conferences (more than
170 articles in ISI Web of Science, h-index 21).

The trend towards miniaturization has increased dramatically over the last decade, especially within the fields
concerned with bioengineering, microelectronics, and aerospace. Micromilling is among the principal manu-
facturing processes which have allowed the development of components possessing micrometric dimensions,
being used to the manufacture of both forming tools and the final product. The aim of this work is to present
the principal aspects related to this technology, with emphasis on the work material requirements, tool ma-
terials and geometry, cutting forces and temperature, quality of the finished product, process modelling and
monitoring and machine tool requirements. It can be noticed that size effect possesses a relevant role with
regard to the selection of both work material (grain size) and tooling (edge radius). Low forces and temper-
ature are recorded during micromilling, however, the specific cutting force may reach high values because of
the ploughing effect observed as the uncut chip thickness is reduced. Finally, burr formation is the principal
concern with regard to the quality of the finished part.

KEY WORDS: Micro-milling; Micromachining; Size effect; Miniaturization

1. Introduction group of operations resides in the fact that the un-

In general, micromachining is defined based on
the dimensions of the cutting tool, which should lie
within the range from 1 to 1000 μm, however, the
most relevant aspect concerned with the scope of this
† Corresponding author. Prof., Ph.D.; Tel.: +351 234 370953;
E-mail address: pdavim@ua.pt (J.P. Davim).
cut chip thickness and work material grain size pos-
sess dimensions comparable to the cutting edge ra-
dius. Consequently, the traditional approaches used
to describe the phenomena involved in conventional
(or macro) machining do not apply in this case simply
by downscaling. Micromilling allows the production
of three dimensional components in a range of mate-
rials such as metallic alloys, ceramics and polymeric
674 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.

materials. Although aspects related to the machin-

ability of these materials in the submillimetre range
have been copiously discussed in the literature, papers
dealing with the use of this manufacturing method
to produce microelectromechanical systems, micro-
moulds and dies, biomedical components, microtur-
bines and pumps, micromotors, optical devices, pho-
tolithographic masks, measuring devices, heat sinks
and so on are seldom found. This suggests that the
current knowledge is not advanced enough to tackle
the technological challenges involved in the produc-
tion of actual microcomponents. One possible reason
may be the fact that subsequent finishing operations,
such as honing, are usually not feasible[1] . Fig. 1 Evolution of the number of papers published on
micromilling in recent years
Byrne et al.[2] stated that surface roughness values
of approximately 5 nm can be achieved when micro-
machining components with dimensions in the range
of 1 μm. In addition to that, it is pointed out that one
important aspect related to miniaturized components
is the elevation of the ratio of surface area to weight.
For instance, the above mentioned authors report that
the weight of an automotive anti-lock braking system
has been reduced to 29% (from 6.2 to 1.8 kg) from
1989 to 2001. The manufacture of an inducer for a
blood micropump was reported[3] . The inducer pos-
sesses a maximum diameter of 5 mm, a height of 4 mm
and a blades thickness of 67 μm around the hub. The
Fig. 2 Key aspects to be considered in micromilling
work and tool materials were, respectively, oxygen
free high conductivity (OFHC) copper and monocrys-
talline diamond. The total machining time was 42 Kingdom) and North America (Canada and USA).
hours and a computer aided manufacturing system The principal aspects that must be taken into account
was especially developed to allow the manufacture of in micromilling are depicted in Fig. 2, with emphasis
the inducer in a five-axis micromilling system. Shi and on work material, tooling and machine tool require-
Liu[4] described the fabrication of microgears with 10 ments. Each aspect will be discussed thoroughly in
and 20 teeth, a thickness of 400 μm and a module of the following sections of this work.
100 μm using a tungsten carbide involute gear cut- 2. Work Material Considerations
ter. Five passes with a decreasing depth (maximum
of 90 μm in the first pass) were required to generate Size effect is certainly among the principal issues,
each involute and best results (lowest vibration am- if it is not the most relevant aspect, to be addressed
plitude) were obtained when milling was performed in microcutting. It can be defined as the dramatic
at a cutting speed of 75.4 m/min and a feed rate of increase in the shear flow stress of the work material
0.083 μm/rev/tooth. Finally, micromilling of single caused by the decrease in the uncut chip thickness (h).
crystal silicon with optical quality was reported by With the reduction in both the uncut chip thickness
Rusnaldy et al.[5] , who produced a damage free sur- and depth of cut, grain boundaries, crystal defects
face with roughness of Ra =5 nm, considered accept- and impurities affect the slip process during plastic
able for infrared optical components. deformation, as reported by Backer et al.[7] .
Although microcutting has been subject matter According to literature[8] , in conventional cutting
of research since the 1960 s, only in the 1980 s it has it is assumed that the cutting edge is perfectly sharp
been focused on micromilling of dies and moulds[6] . and that there is no contact between the machined
Fig. 1 shows the number of published works used in surface and tool s clearance face. Consequently, ma-
this survey and their distribution along the last years. terial is removed essentially by shearing. In the case
Obviously, the actual number of papers is larger, nev- of microcutting, however, the tool edge radius (rh )
ertheless the aim of this graph is to present a trend becomes significant compared with the uncut chip
showing the steep increase in published papers on mi- thickness causing a decrease in the actual rake angle.
cromilling as from the middle of the last decade. This Therefore, the contribution of ploughing to the cut-
subject matter has been studied at different levels ting force cannot be neglected. Özel et al.[9] reported
and from distinct viewpoints, especially in countries that the lower the tool edge radius, the thinner the
from Asia (China, Japan, Singapore and South Ko- initial chip thickness, thus minimizing the ploughing
rea), Europe (Denmark, Germany, Spain and United action. In addition to that, size effect becomes rele-
 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
vant when the ratio of average grain size to the uncut
chip thickness approaches the unit and the cutting
edge is forced to fracture a single grain[8] .
Due to the fact that the cutting edge is not per-
fectly sharp, the maximum uncut chip thickness is of-
ten smaller than the cutting edge radius, therefore the
actual rake angle that takes part in chip formation is
highly negative[10] . If the tool edge radius exceeds the
uncut chip thickness, ploughing takes place in lieu of
shearing. Furthermore, variations in the hardness of
two adjacent grains make micromilling more trouble-
some. The limit where the material behaviour begins
to differ from conventional cutting was investigated
by Bissacco et al.[11] , who noticed that when the un-
cut chip thickness becomes equal or smaller than the
tool edge radius, the efficiency of ball nose end mi-
cromilling is impaired.
An investigation on the chip morphology of a
medium carbon steel produced by microcutting[12] in-
dicated that when the uncut chip thickness becomes
smaller than the average grain size of the smallest mi-
crostructure constituent, quasi-shear-extrusion of the
softer grain type (ferrite) takes place. Finite element
simulations of the chip formation process indicated
that the shear angle oscillated from 23◦ when cutting
the harder phase (pearlite) to 18◦ when cutting fer-
rite.
Similar work was conducted by Weule et al.[6] , who
investigated the influence of heat treatment on the
machinability of AISI 1045 medium carbon steel in
fly cutting with tungsten carbide tools. The authors
noticed that when cutting the material in the normal-
ized state the presence of large grains (approximately
50 μm in diameter) adversely affected the quality of
the machined surface due to the elastic recovery of
ferrite grains. Grain homogenizing obtained through
quenching and tempering led to smaller average grain
size and minimized the spring back effect.
In contrast to metallic alloys, a brittle fracture
mode is observed when cutting glass. Therefore, suit-
able machining conditions (including negative rake
angle) must be selected in order to promote high hy-
drostatic stresses in cutting region, thus leading to
ductile fracture[13] . The findings indicated that the
use of an axial depth of cut between 0.2 and 0.4 μm to-
gether with intermediate feed rates (80–120 μm/rev)
promoted ductile fracture, while ploughing was ob-
served when feed rate was reduced and brittle fracture
took place at higher feed rate values. Nevertheless,
Rusnaldy et al.[5] managed to cut single crystal sili-
con in the ductile mode by selecting suitable milling
conditions, i.e., spindle speed of 100000 r/min (cut-
ting speed of 56 m/min), feed rate of 0.0012 μm/rev
per tooth and axial depth of cut of 0.3 μm.
Considering all the difficulties related to mi-
cromilling and discussed above, it is not surprising
that the vast majority of published work is concerned
with work materials which are considered easy to cut,
such as low hardness carbon steels as well as alu-
675
Fig. 3 Typical work materials used in micromilling
minium and copper alloys, see Fig. 3. Low hardness
steels encompass carbon steels, high strength low al-
loy steels and high alloy steels which do not subject to
hardening. Others cover heat resistant alloys, binder-
less WC and WCu alloy.
Hardened steels are less studied and more diffi-
cult to be cut. Materials, such as heat resistant al-
loys, ceramics, glasses are seldom subject of investiga-
tion. The influence of the weight percentage of tung-
sten and copper on the machinability of WCu alloy
used in the manufacture of electrical discharge ma-
chining electrodes was studied by Uhlmann et al.[14] .
The findings indicated that the work material prop-
erties (homogeneity, tungsten grain size and bonding
fraction), tooling specification and cutting parameters
(cutting speed and feed rate) significantly affected the
performance of the micromilling operation.
3. Tool Materials and Geometry
In most cases, micromilling is carried out with
either flat end mills (to produce two-dimensional
components) or ball end mills (for three-dimensional
parts), both with two flutes. The smallest milling cut-
ter diameter found in this survey was 50 μm, used by
Schaller et al.[15] to cut brass, although Egashira et
al.[16] used wire electrical discharge machining to pro-
duce cemented tungsten carbide gun barrel drill-type
microtools with 3 μm diameter for drilling and slot
milling of free cutting brass, but with unpredictable
performance. Fly cutting tools or four-fluted cutters
are occasionally used. A typical tungsten carbide end
cutter used for micromilling possessing a nominal tool
edge radius of 5 μm can be seen in Figs. 4 and 5
showing a TiAlN coated tungsten carbide ball end
micromilling cutter.
As far as the tool material is concerned (Fig. 6),
single crystal diamond is indicated for non-ferrous al-
loys, whereas fine-grained tungsten carbide is recom-
mended for steels. TiAlN is the principal coating ma-
terial applied to tungsten carbide cutters. While the
usage of high speed steel as a tool material is expected
to decrease, the microcutting market share for single
crystal diamond tools should experience an increase
in the next years.
In order to avoid size effect, during the selec-
tion of the edge radius of the cutting tool the uncut
676 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 4 Uncoated tungsten carbide end milling cutter
(Ø500 μm): (a) bottom view and (b) edge radius
Fig. 5 TiAlN coated tungsten carbide ball end milling
cutter (Ø400 μm)
chip thickness (the rake angle becomes negative ow-
ing to the comparable values of cutting edge radius
and uncut chip thickness) and the average grain size
of work material must be considered. In general, pub-
lished literature reports tool edge radii ranging from
1 to 3 μm and the smallest edge radius found was
0.5 μm[13] . In addition to that, Aramcharoen and
Mativenga[8] stressed the importance of tooling in-
spection due to lack of compliance and defects fre-
quently found in microtools.
The influence of different coatings (deposited
through the physical vapour deposition technique-
PVD) on the performance of tungsten carbide end
mills used to cut hardened AISI H13 hot work die
Fig. 6 Principal tool materials used in micromilling
steel was investigated by Aramcharoen et al.[17] . The
behaviour of five coated cutters (TiN, TiCN, TiAlN,
CrN and CrTiAlN) and of an uncoated tool was com-
pared. Interestingly, the TiAlN coated tool presented
larger flank wear than the uncoated tool, whereas TiN
and CrTiAlN coated tools exhibited the least flank
wear. As far as the chipping of the cutting edge is
concerned, TiN coated tools provided the best results
and CrN coated cutters gave the worst results, being
slightly superior to the uncoated cutter. After re-
moving a total volume of 0.25 mm3 , the cutting edge
radius of the uncoated tool increased 350% and the
radius of the TiN coated tool increased 70%.
The behaviour of tools employed in micromilling is
rather unpredictable. Catastrophic failure may occur
as the result of chip clogging and failure by fatigue
may take place because of the high spindle speeds
employed. As tool wear advances, the cutting edge
radius increases leading to burr formation. Finally,
progressive wear on micro-end mills may result in the
elevation of the cutting forces to levels high enough
to cause failure of the tool shaft.
As previously reported, cemented tungsten car-
bide (0.6 μm and 90 nm in grain sizes) gun
barrel drill-type microtools with 3 μm diameter
were developed[16] . These tools were fabricated by
wire electrical discharge machining with additional
drilling; slot milling tests were carried on free-cutting
brass at a feed speed of 3 μm/s and axial depth of cut
of 0.5 μm. When attempting to produce slots with a
total depth of 2 μm only one tool out of four accom-
plished this task. In the case of slots with a depth of
3 μm, the success rate decreased to one tool out of 16.
Orbital micromachining using a single point di-
amond tool was proposed by Heamawatanachai et
al [18] . The tool possesses a cone section with 50◦ plus
a spherical tip with a radius less than 1 μm. As a
consequence, an extremely negative rake angle is ob-
served when small depths of cut are employed, which
allows the machining of brittle materials. Further-
more, the circular cross section of the diamond tip
results in a tool less prone to fracture.
The influence of cutting speed, feed rate and the
use of minimal quantity lubrication (MQL) on tool life
in micromilling of SKD61 tool steel with tungsten car-
 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
[19]
bide tools was investigated by Li and Chou . The
effect of cutting speed on tool life was found to be neg-
ligible and longer tool lives were obtained at higher
feed rates and using MQL (oil flow rate of 7.5 ml/h
and air flow of 40 l/h). According to the authors, the
elevation in tool life with feed rate may be explained
by the fact that the lower the feed rate, the longer the
cutting time for a given length cut.
Jemielniak and Arrazola[20] reported a hectic be-
haviour for tool wear when micro ball end milling
hardened tool steel with a tool life variation up to
50% under identical cutting conditions. In contrast,
Zhu et al.[21] stated that continuous hidden Markov
model can effectively model and predict tool wear
in micromilling of pure copper and steel, providing
recognition rates above 84%.
Chipped and cracked cutting edges adversely af-
fected the surface finish and burr size in micromilling
of hardened AISI H13 tool steel, whereas chamfered
cutting edges provided a similar performance com-
pared with rounded edges[8] .
In contrast to conventional milling cutters, which
fracture due to the loss of material in the rake and
clearance faces, catastrophic failure of tools for mi-
cromilling takes place as the result of edge dulling
(caused by wear or work material adhesion) and/or
chip clogging[22] .
Micromilling testes conducted on OFHC copper
were carried out and indicated that tool wear of tung-
sten carbide end mills decreased as the cutting speed
was elevated[23,24] . Moreover, the influence of feed
rate and depth of cut was considered negligible by
the former researchers, whereas the latter noticed that
tool wear decreased as feed rate was elevated. In both
cases, however, direct measurement of tool wear was
regarded as impractical and tool wear was assessed
in terms of the reduction in the machined slot width.
This approach may not be the most appropriate due
to the fact that in some cases the spindle run-out can
mislead the results. Finally, Filiz et al.[24] reported
that progressive wear was caused mainly by attri-
tion (dislodgement of tungsten carbide grains from
the cobalt matrix).
Rahman et al.[25] , however, managed to directly
measure tool wear on cutters with a diameter of 1 mm
with a toolmaker s microscope. They noticed that
wear was not uniformly distributed in the cutting
edges, thus leading to the elevation of the milling
forces and probably to premature tool fracture, which
is the principal factor limiting tool life in micromilling
of pure copper. As far as the influence of the cutting
parameters is concerned, longer tool life was obtained
using the highest depth of cut (250 μm) and the effect
of cutting speed could not be assessed owing to the
fact that feed rate was simultaneously altered.
Fly cutting with single point diamond tools was
employed to cut a spectrometer diffraction grating
on a convex surface made of AA 6061 aluminium
alloy[26] . A wear land of 10 μm was noticed after the
677
second pass (of a total of 558 line gratings), thus con-
siderably altering the tool nose radius and probably
affecting the surface finish.
Gradual tool wear was observed on polycrystalline
cubic boron nitride (PcBN) cutters after ball end
milling silicon[27] . Chipping of the cutting edge was
attributed to built-up edge formation. According to
the authors chemical wear is not a relevant mechanism
due to the low temperatures involved. As cutting
time elapsed, both tool wear and surface roughness
increased.
Ding et al.[28] indicated that a substantial reduc-
tion in tool wear rate can be obtained in micromilling
materials which are difficult to be cut (Ti6Al4V, In-
conel 718 and AISI 422 stainless steel) by focusing an
elliptical laser beam (25 W power) ahead of the cut-
ter path. Similar results were reported[29] for laser as-
sisted micromilling of hardened tool steel with coated
carbide tools. The laser equipment used in the latter
research possessed a peak power of 35 W and was set
to provide a target temperature of 450–500◦ C.
Egashira et al.[16] and Ding et al.[30] employed ul-
trasonic vibration (frequencies of 40 and 3 kHz and
amplitudes of 0.2 and up to 3 μm, respectively) to
reduce tool wear. According to Ding et al.[30] , chip
thickness and, consequently, cutting forces, are re-
duced when ultrasonic vibration is introduced.
4. Micromilling Forces
Forces recording during micromilling requires data
acquisition systems capable of working at high sam-
pling rates in order to generate a comprehensive pic-
ture of the micromilling forces behaviour, in spite of
the high rotational speeds. The mean force amplitude
(peak to valley) is usually employed to assess the in-
fluence of cutting parameters.
In spite of the low forces generated, feed rate val-
ues used in micromilling associated to the comparably
higher cutting edge radii promote extremely negative
rake angle values, thus promoting high specific cutting
forces. Pérez et al.[31] noticed that the specific cutting
force decreases as the uncut chip thickness is elevated.
The specific cutting force required for conventional
milling machining or micromilling of an aluminium al-
loy (AA 7075-T6) was determined by Newby et al.[32] ,
who found similar values in both conditions.
As the uncut chip thickness is elevated, the force
components in the feed and tangential directions tend
to increase slightly within an approximate range from
0.5 to 2.5 N, however, the specific cutting force de-
creases drastically[8] .
The behaviour of the forces in micromilling is char-
acterized for steep fluctuations due to the shearing
and ploughing effects[9] . Tansel et al.[33] reported that
the feed force recorded when two fresh tools are used
under identical cutting conditions may vary from 10%
to 30%.
When micromilling AA 2024-T6 aluminium alloy
678 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 7 Effect of feed rate and depth of cut on feed force: (a) AA 6262-T5 aluminium alloy and electrolytic copper
and (b) pure nickel and graphite
with tungsten carbide tools at various cutting speeds
and feed rates per tooth (from 80 to 160 m/min and
from 1.27 to 5.08 μm/rev, respectively), feed and nor-
mal forces ranging from –3 to 3 N were recorded[9] . In
the case of AISI 4340 steel machined under the same
cutting conditions, feed forces varied from –10 to 10 N,
while normal forces from –40 to 40 N were observed.
Micromilling forces varying from –1 to 1 N were
reported by Ku et al.[34] when cutting AISI 1045 steel,
whereas Bissacco et al.[10] observed forces values rang-
ing from –0.5 to 1 N when micromilling AA 6082 T6
aluminium alloy.
The mean force amplitude recorded in the mi-
cromilling of OFHC copper with tungsten carbide end
mills indicated that the feed and radial forces tend to
increase with feed rate to reach maximum values of 0.8
N and 1.2N, respectively, at a feed rate of 6 μm/tooth.
As far as the influence of cutting speed is concerned,
however, a clear trend could not be observed[24] . In
contrast, the specific cutting force increased with cut-
ting speed (especially at lower feed rates) and de-
creased drastically as feed rate was elevated from 1
to 3 μm/rev/tooth (typical values ranged from 5 to
20 MPa). Micromilling the same material at lower
feed rates (between 0.2 and 1.4 μm/rev), Lai et al.[35]
noticed a decrease in the specific cutting force from
38 to 15 MPa.
The specific cutting force recorded when mi-
cromilling hardened tool steel (62 HRC) at feed rates
from 2.2 to 6.6 μm/rev decreased from 28 to 10 MPa,
thus suggesting that the influence of feed rate is su-
perior to that of work material properties.
Ball end milling tests on silicon with polycrys-
talline cubic boron nitride tools were conducted by
Arif et al.[13] . The findings indicated that the milling
force components increased steadily with feed rate, as
long as cutting took place in the ductile mode. In-
creasing feed rate above the critical value required to
produce brittle fracture resulted in no further eleva-
tion of the milling forces.
Micromilling forces can be drastically reduced by
focusing a laser beam ahead of the cutting path. Ku-
mar and Melkote[29] reported a maximum reduction
of 69% in the peak force required when micromilling a
tool steel (62 HRC) with TiAlN coated tungsten car-
bide tools. Furthermore, the specific cutting energy
was also reduced, thus indicating a decrease in the
ploughing effect.
Fig. 7 shows the influence of feed rate and depth
of cut on feed force when micromilling AA 6262-T5
aluminium alloy and electrolytic copper (Fig. 7(a))
and pure nickel and graphite (Fig. 7(b)) using a tung-
sten carbide cutter (Ø500 μm) at a cutting speed of
63 m/min (40000 r/min). Under all circumstances,
feed force increased with feed rate and depth of cut.
Nickel was responsible for higher forces and graphite
for lower values due to its brittle nature and low hard-
ness. Furthermore, graphite was the least sensitive to
both feed rate and depth of cut.
5. Cutting Temperature
Despite its importance to both the accuracy of the
machined component and tool life, micromilling tem-
perature has not been extensively investigated. The
challenges involved in this task are related to the lim-
itations of the methods available for temperature as-
sessment in cutting: the small target area (in the case
of infrared cameras) and the need of equipment op-
erating at acquisition rates which allow the collection
of sufficient data for further analyses. Thermocou-
ples are intrusive and should not be used to measure
temperature in microcutting.
In comparison with conventional milling, consid-
erably low temperature values are expected in mi-
cromilling owing to the small uncut chip thickness val-
ues employed, nevertheless, thermal expansion during
machining may result in inaccuracy of the finished
component. According to Bissaco et al.[36] , the differ-
ence between the temperature of the cutting fluid
 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 8 Graphite EDM electrode (20 mm×20 mm): (a) full size, (b) detail of (a) and (c) cross section of (b)
and that of the machine tool frame may negatively af-
fect the relative position between tool and workpiece
(depth of cut).
Maximum tool temperature values as low as 92 ◦ C
for micromilling of carbon steel and 50 ◦ C for an
aluminium alloy were reported by Wissmiller and
Pfefferkorn[37] , in spite of the higher feed rates em-
ployed when cutting the former material with superior
strength. Nevertheless, such temperature elevation
may account for a considerable tool expansion (2.77
μm in length) when micromilling steel under the most
severe cutting condition. In contrast, the thermal ex-
pansion in the radial direction possesses a negligible
effect if compared with the tool run out.
Özel et al.[9] calculated the temperature at the cut-
ting zone in micromilling of AISI 4340 steel and AA
2024-T6 aluminium alloy and found, under the same
cutting conditions, 100–150 ◦ C in the former and 50–
60 ◦ C in the latter. In contrast, the simulation find-
ings obtained by Afazov et al.[38] concerned with the
temperature when micromilling AISI 4340 steel sug-
gested that the temperature in the cutting zone may
exceed 500 ◦ C at a cutting speed of 283 m/min. In
this case, the tool was considered an isothermal rigid
body and the work material was modelled based on
Johnson-Cook constitutive model.
6. Quality of the Machined Component
Three dimensional assessment of the finished com-
ponents is usually carried out using optical equip-
ments (especially white light interferometry and
atomic force microscopy) and scanning electron mi-
croscopy. Liu[39] proposed the use of a non-contact
measuring system integrated to the micromilling
equipment. The system consisted of a laser sensor
with oscillating objective lens used to measure height
(Z axis), combined with linear encoders which are re-
sponsible for travel positioning (X and Y axes), thus
providing the position of a given point in space.
Fig. 8(a) shows a graphite electrode for electri-
cal discharge machining (EDM) with patterns gener-
ated by micromilling (vc =63 m/min, fz =0.50 μm/rev
and ap=300 μm). The detail presented in Fig. 8(b)
suggests a damaged free surface, however, a closer
look (Fig. 8(c)) indicates that the brittle behaviour of
679
Fig. 9 Detail of a micromilled copper electrode for EDM
graphite results in chipping at tool exit. The same
pattern observed in Fig. 8(b) was produced on elec-
trolytic copper, see Fig. 9. The ductile behaviour of
this material resulted in unacceptable quality charac-
terized by large burrs.
6.1 Surface roughness
Bissaco et al.[36] claimed that a critical aspect con-
cerned with surface finish resides in the fact that when
milling a surface by means of parallel passes, the ma-
chine tool repeatability error provides a substantial
contribution to the elevation of the surface rough-
ness. Furthermore, the surface texture produced by
ball nose end micromilling is characterized by ridges
comparatively higher than those observed in conven-
tional milling plus smeared material left behind the
tool and attached to the machined surface. Finally,
elastic recovery causes the elevation of surface rough-
ness, therefore, the sharper the tool, the better the
surface finish[8] .
Different milling strategies and their effect on sur-
face finished of micromilled AA 2011 aluminium alloy
with a tungsten carbide cutter (Ø800 μm) were stud-
ied by Cardoso et al.[40] . Lowest surface roughness
(Rz parameter) was provided by the constant over-
lap spiral strategy, followed by the parallel spiral and
parallel zigzag strategies.
Findings reported by Aramcharoen and
Mativenga[8] related to micromilling of hardened AISI
H13 tool steel showed that the roughness of the ma-
680 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 10 Surface quality of AA 6262-T5 aluminium alloy: (a) fz =0.25 μm/rev/tooth and (b) fz =0.50 μm/rev/tooth
chined surface reaches its minimum value when the
uncut chip thickness equals the cutting edge radius.
When the uncut chip thickness becomes smaller than
the edge radius the surface roughness increases due to
the ploughing effect (elastic recovery). In contrast, by
increasing the uncut chip thickness above the edge ra-
dius value results in the elevation of surface roughness
in a similar manner as that observed in conventional
cutting.
The surface texture generated by ball end mi-
cromilling with coated carbide tools and microgrind-
ing of hardened cold work tool steel was studied by
Brinksmeier et al.[1] . It was noticed that lowest coef-
ficient of friction (smaller than that of a polished con-
trol sample) was associated with a machined surface
roughness Sa between 50 and 600 nm. Additionally,
the friction coefficient decreased as the radial depth
of cut was elevated, probably due to the reduction of
the adhesion forces in the contact area.
Uniform roughness values in the range of Ra =200
nm were recorded by Li and Chou[19] when mi-
cromilling a tool steel under minimal quantity lubri-
cation. When dry cutting, however, tool wear led to
a drastic deterioration of the machined surface.
Surface roughness Rz ranging from 500 to 1000 nm
were reported[6] when fly cutting hardened medium
carbon and tool steels with tungsten carbide tools.
Furthermore, surface roughness was reduced as cut-
ting speed and workpiece hardness were elevated due
to the elimination of the built-up edge.
The use of PVD coated (TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, CrN
and CrTiAlN) milling cutters did not result in any
substantial improvement on the surface roughness of
hardened AISI H13 tool steels. As far as burr size
is concerned, cutters coated with TiN, TiCN and Cr-
TiAlN, in this order, gave the best results[17] .
The surface finish of OFHC copper samples was
drastically affected by the tool wear of tungsten car-
bide microcutters[23] , thus indicating that tool wear
should be taken into account when modelling the
roughness of micromilled surfaces. In addition to
that, Filiz et al.[24] reported that surface roughness
increased with feed rate to reach values of approxi-
mately 150–450 nm when fz =6 μm/rev/tooth. The
effect of cutting speed was not evident, although
the difference observed between the cutting speeds
tested (which was minimal for a feed rate of 0.75
μm/rev/tooth) increased with feed rate.
Increasing surface roughness values ranging from
13 to 26 nm were recorded on the slot wall in
micromilling of copper with a two-flute tungsten
carbide cutter as the feed rate was elevated from
0.8 to 4 μm/rev/tooth[41] . Feed rates below 0.8
μm/rev/tooth led to an increase in surface roughness,
probably due to the ploughing effect.
In the case of a nickel alloy, surface finish was sig-
nificantly affected by cutting speed and the ratio of
feed rate to edge radius in a similar manner, whereas
the influence of axial depth of cut and tool coating
was found to be negligible[42] . Typical Ra values were
recorded within the range 80–120 nm.
Ball end milling of silicon using PcBN cutters was
conducted by Arif et al.[27] . Feed rate was varied from
17 to 267 nm/rev and the findings indicated that best
surface finish (minimum Ra value of approximately 30
nm) was obtained at a feed rate of 33 nm/rev. Ac-
cording to the authors, ploughing is responsible for
impairing surface finish at lower feed rates.
The surface finish of hardened tool steel (55 and
58 HRC) subjected to micro end milling can be sub-
stantially improved by ultrasonic vibration of the
workpiece[30] . Surface roughness tends to decrease
as frequency and amplitude of vibration are elevated,
to reach a minimum value at 3 kHz and 3 μm, re-
spectively (Ra ≤0.2 μm). The reason for this be-
haviour resides in the fact that thinner chips are
generated when ultrasonically assisting micro end
milling, which leads to lower cutting forces and re-
duced tool wear. Fig. 10 compares the influence of
feed rate on the surface quality of AA 6262-T5 alu-
minium alloy micromilled at a cutting speed of vc =63
m/min (40000 r/min) and depth of cut of ap =30
μm. It can be noted that increasing feed rate per
tooth from fz =0.25 μm/rev/tooth (Fig. 10(a)) to
fz =0.50 μm/rev/tooth (Fig. 10(b)) resulted in bet-
ter surface finish (feed marks less visible), probably
 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
owing to the suppression of the size effect.
6.2 Burr formation
Burr formation is probably the principal dam-
age noticed on machined surfaces subjected to mi-
cromilling. They are not acceptable and further re-
moval is not economically and eventually not techni-
cally feasible. According to Weule et al.[6] , the pres-
ence of burrs increases with the work material hard-
ness, probably as a consequence of higher wear rates.
Ku et al.[34] conducted tests on AISI 1045 steel us-
ing a feed rate that corresponded to uncut chip thick-
ness values ranging from 20% to 80% of the tool edge
radius. Chip was not satisfactorily formed using the
smallest uncut chip thickness as a result of the plough-
ing action and excessive burr was generated on the
slot walls. Burr size was found to decrease as the un-
cut chip thickness was elevated during micromilling of
hardened tool steel due to the diminishing contribu-
tion of the ploughing effect. Up-milling was reported
to minimize burr formation and so does the use of
minimal quantity lubrication[8,19] .
Min et al.[43] investigated burr formation when mi-
cromilling single crystal OFHC copper with tungsten
carbide end mills and noted that burr height varied
periodically along tool rotation and was affected by
milling direction (up-milling generated shorter burrs
than down-milling). Moreover, the influence of crys-
tallographic orientation was found to be much more
relevant than that of cutting speed and feed rate,
which ranged, respectively, from 4 to 17 m/min and
from 1 to 3 μm/rev/tooth.
Burr formation in micromilling of aluminium al-
loy and stainless steel was investigated by Lekkala et
al.[44] . Six different mechanisms responsible for burr
formation were identified and higher and thicker burrs
were observed in the stainless steel. Furthermore,
burr height and thickness were significantly affected
by tool diameter, number of flutes and depth of cut,
i.e., increasing feed rate, number of flutes and tool
diameter caused a reduction in burr height.
An artificial neural network model was proposed
Fig. 11 Burr formation: (a) pure nickel and (b) electrolytic copper
681
[45]
by Yunming et al. aiming to predict burr formation
during micromilling of brass. The optimization of the
cutting conditions (namely cutting speed, feed rate,
depth of cut, tool rake angle and corner radius) led to
the reduction of the burr thickness. In contrast, no
relationship between burr formation and the cutting
parameters was found by Schaller et al.[15] . In order
to remove burrs generated after micromilling brass, a
cyanacrylate mask (which was removed together with
the embedded burrs after polymerization by subse-
quent micromilling with a diamond cutter) was ap-
plied by Yunming et al.[45] . In the case of stainless
steel, burrs were removed by electrochemical polish-
ing. Finally, negligible burr formation was observed
after micromilling with a diamond tool.
Simoneau et al.[7] reported that typical defects
observed on the machined surface of a medium car-
bon steel after microcutting are dimples, microvoids
and microcracks, irrespectively of the machining con-
ditions employed. Prows were also found and due
to the fact that they are strain hardened and tend
to disappear as the cutting speed was elevated, they
are believed to be built-up edge residuals. The au-
thors claim that dimple formation is the result from
the transition from harder (pearlite) to softer (ferrite)
grain boundaries.
Milling of binderless tungsten carbide moulds for
aspheric lenses was conducted by Suzuki et al.[46]
using a polycrystalline diamond cutter. A surface
roughness of Rz =15 nm associated with a form de-
viation of 100 nm was obtained.
Burrs generated after micromilling pure nickel
and electrolytic copper (both at vc =63 m/min,
fz =0.25 μm/rev/tooth and ap =30 μm) can be no-
ticed, respectively, in Figs. 11(a) and (b). Consider-
ing that the tool is rotating in the clockwise direction
and travelling from right to left, it can be noticed that
up-milling promotes shorter burrs height and that the
quality of micromachined copper is unacceptable un-
der the cutting conditions employed.
Laser assisted micromilling of a tool steel (62
HRC) was employed by Kumar and Melkote[29] . Dif-
ferent from the positive effect observed on cutting
682 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
forces and tool wear, the use of this technique resulted
in larger burr heights and poorer surface finish com-
pared with non-assisted cutting, especially when the
laser spot size was larger than tool diameter, probably
due to the thermal softening of the work material.
7. Micromilling Modelling
According to Bissacco et al.[10] , size effect is the
principal factor responsible for the differences ob-
served between experimental results and those ob-
tained from numerical models based on conventional
milling, especially the influence of the tool edge ra-
dius. These authors modified the model proposed by
Armarego to encompass an equivalent sliding plane
plus the ratio of the uncut chip thickness to the
tool edge angle. The findings indicated a satisfac-
tory agreement between experimental and numerical
results.
Modelling of the micromilling operation using
Johnson-Cook constitutive equation to determine the
flow stress required to plastically deform the work ma-
terial was undertaken by Özel et al.[9] , who pointed
out that a minimum uncut chip thickness correspond-
ing to 30%–36% of the tool edge radius is required
to allow chip formation when cutting AISI 4340 steel
(42%–45% for AA 2024-T6 aluminium alloy). Further
finite element simulation of the process, however, re-
sulted in considerably lower values for feed and radial
forces. Similarly, the temperature in the cutting zone
was found to be excessively low.
Similar work was carried out by Ku et al.[34] , nev-
ertheless using an analytical model especially devised
for micromilling which considers the influence of the
number of teeth and tool radius on the uncut chip
thickness, additionally to feed rate and tool rotation
angle. A comparison between simulated and experi-
mental results agreed fairly and indicated that unsta-
ble cutting (without chip formation) takes place when
micromilling with an uncut chip thickness equivalent
to 20% of the tool edge radius. In contrast, when the
uncut chip thickness is drastically elevated to 80% of
the tool edge radius, cutting happens in a satisfactory
fashion.
Lai et al.[35] developed a finite element model
based on the slip line theory to predict chip forma-
tion and size effect in micromilling of OHFC copper.
Although a satisfactory agreement was obtained un-
der certain cutting conditions, differences as high as
30% were obtained for other cutting parameters, thus
suggesting that the phenomena involved in microcut-
ting are considerably distinct from those observed in
conventional cutting and are not fully understood yet.
8. Process Monitoring
Acoustic emission (AE) is probably the preferred
technique used to monitor micromilling. Compar-
ing acoustic emission with vibration and force sig-
nals to monitor machining operations, Mian et al.[42]
reported that the former is the most appropriate to
characterize cutting in the nanometre range. Further-
more, it was noticed that additionally to the ratio of
feed rate to edge radius, cutting speed is another rel-
evant factor affecting surface roughness and burr root
thickness. In contrast, Tansel et al.[22] reported that
there is a direct relationship between microtool wear
and the behaviour of the cutting force, which indicates
that force signal is a reliable monitoring parameter.
The static feed force variation when micromilling was
used by Tansel et al.[33] to predict tool failure based
on segmental averaging and wavelet transformation.
The findings indicated that both methods provided
satisfactory accuracy and offer an alternative to di-
rect tool wear measurement, which is unpractical in
micromilling.
According to Jemielniak and Arrazola[20] and Jang
et al.[47] , the acoustic emission signal is subjected to
considerable changes during cutting, being stronger
at the start and decreasing in the middle to increase
again near the end of the cut. The authors state that
the short period of tool engagement makes difficult
the use of traditional methods for signal processing.
In contrast to the acoustic emission signal, which in-
creases almost instantaneously (55 mV in 0.2 ms) as
the tool engages the part and is hardly affected by res-
onant vibrations of the machine-tool-workpiece sys-
tem, the force signal does not show any variation while
the first and second teeth are cutting, thus indicat-
ing that the acoustic emission signal is more suitable
to detect the contact between tool and work mater-
ial. Moreover, it has been noted by Ku et al.[34] that
when cutting takes place under unstable conditions
the acoustic emission signal is characterized for an ir-
regular pattern, in contrast to stable cutting.
Rahnama et al.[48] employed acoustic emission to
successfully monitor the occurrence of chatter vibra-
tion during micro end milling of an aluminium alloy.
Significant changes in the signal were observed in both
time and frequency domains when comparing stable
cutting with cutting with chatter. In addition to that,
excessive burr is formed in the presence of chatter vi-
bration.
The ploughing effect can be successfully detected
by using wavelet transform applied to the normal
force signal when micromilling copper using a tung-
sten carbide cutter to literature[41] . Malekian et al.[49]
combined vibration acceleration, milling forces and
acoustic emission signals aiming to monitor tool wear
in micromilling. The results indicated that merging
these different signals in a neuro fuzzy interference al-
gorithm, information from a wider bandwidth (from
1 to 107 Hz) could be collected, thus reducing the er-
ror between the predicted tool wear and experimental
results.
The acoustic emission signals recorded when mi-
cromilling AA 6262-T5 aluminium alloy and elec-
trolytic copper are given in Fig. 12(a), whereas
 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 12 Effect of feed rate and depth of cut on the acoustic emission signal: (a) AA 6262-T5 aluminium alloy and
electrolytic copper and (b) pure nickel and graphite
Fig. 12(b) presents the results for pure nickel and
graphite. The tests were performed with a tung-
sten carbide cutter (Ø500 μm) at a cutting speed of
63 m/min (40000 r/min). It can be seen that the
acoustic emission signal increases with depth of cut
and, in most cases, decreases as feed rate is elevated.
This behaviour can be explained by the fact that in-
creasing depth of cut results in the emission of more
intense elastic waves. As far as the influence of feed
rate is concerned, the decrease in the AE signal sug-
gests that with the elevation of feed rate and, con-
sequently, of the uncut chip thickness, the ploughing
effect is minimized.
9. Machine Tool Requirements
In order to satisfactorily accomplish micromilling,
the following characteristics are required for the ma-
chine tool: high static and dynamic stiffness, high
thermal stability of the frame materials, feed drives
and control systems with high accuracy and short
response time associated with large bandwidth and
low following error for multiaxes interpolation, mini-
mization and/or compensation of thermal effects and
minimization and compensation of static and dynamic
positioning errors. The axes responsible for feed and
depth of cut must be driven preferably by linear mo-
tors with an accuracy of approximate 0.1 μm. The
run out deviation for the main spindle should be infe-
rior to 1 μm, however, Bissacco et al.[10] asserted that
the run out error of the cutter is minimized by tool
deflection.
According to Kimman et al.[50] , the approach used
to design conventional milling machines cannot be ap-
plied to micromilling equipment due to the following
reasons: firstly, the stiffness of the micromilling cut-
ter is very low, thus impairing the effectiveness of the
high stiffness of the machine tool as a whole; and sec-
ondly, high rotor masses and diameters in addition
to mechanical bearings cannot be used to accomplish
the very high spindle speeds required in micromilling.
683
Nevertheless, Mecomber et al.[51] asserted that con-
ventional CNC milling machines can be successfully
employed to produce aluminium moulds for hot em-
bossing polymeric microchips with tolerances ranging
from 2 to 10 μm by externally measuring the ma-
chined features with the aid of an optical microscope
in an iterative procedure.
In order to attain the required cutting speeds us-
ing milling cutters with diameters inferior to 1 mm,
high rotational speeds are required (air turbines and
brushless electric motors are usually employed for this
purpose). This can be accomplished either by retro-
fitting the machine tool to achieve rotational speeds
as high as 80000 r/min or by dedicated machines that
can reach 100000 r/min. In the latter case an addi-
tional advantage is ensuring position accuracy values
as low as 10 nm, not achievable by the former[36] .
Fig. 13 presents the rotational spindle speeds and
corresponding cutting speeds collected in this survey.
Irrespectively to both workpiece and tool materials
employed, it can be noticed that most research works
are carried out under cutting speeds below the recom-
mended range. With regard to the feed rates typically
employed in micromilling, Fig. 14 shows that values
below 5 μm are widely used and that a large number of
works was conducted using feed rates smaller than the
cutting edge radius, i.e., under circumstances where
ploughing takes place.
Borisaljevic et al.[52] stressed that contactless
(magnetic or air) bearings are required for stable op-
eration at high spindle speeds. A permanent magnet
motor (200000 r/min in rotational speed and 100 W in
power) embedded in bearings with five degrees of free-
dom was designed and built by the authors. The re-
sults suggested that air friction represented the largest
loss component as rotational speed increased.
According to Wang et al.[53] the machine tool
temperature should range within 0.1 ◦ C in order to
minimize the influence of thermal deformation. Fur-
thermore, long machining cycles result in errors due
to temperature fluctuations[26] . Creighton et al.[54]
684 M.A. Câmara et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2012, 28(8), 673–685.
Fig. 13 Rotational speeds and corresponding cutting
speeds typically used in micromilling
Fig. 14 Typical cutting speeds and feed rates used in mi-
cromilling
indicated that the time required for thermal stabiliza-
tion is not affected by the spindle rotational speed and
the axial tool displacement due to temperature eleva-
tion increases with spindle speed. However, the ex-
perimental work was conducted without cutting load.
10. Conclusions
Although it has been subjected to scientific inves-
tigation for approximately 30 years, only in the last
decade substantial advances have been reported on
micromilling, probably owing to the fact that the bet-
ter understanding of the phenomena involved depends
on the development of machine tools and tooling suit-
able for this operation.
As far as the work material is concerned, better
results are obtained with finer grain size and homo-
geneous materials. Multiphase materials offer an ad-
ditional challenge due to differences in the properties
of the phases, for instance, pearlite and ferrite in the
case of steels.
The advent of micro-grained tungsten carbide
tools has provided a considerable contribution to the
advance of microcutting by means of the production
of tools with smaller edge radii, consequently, allow-
ing the use of lower uncut chip thickness values (lower
feed rates). The principal wear mechanisms involved
are not consensual and flank wear measurement is
troublesome.
Micromilling forces are low because of the small
shear area, however, specific cutting force increases
dramatically as the uncut chip thickness is reduced
as a result of the ploughing effect. The usage of laser
or vibration assisted micromilling to reduce the shear
strength of the work material promotes, on the one
hand, a more consistent tool life behaviour. On the
other hand, however, laser assisted micromilling may
impair the machined surface quality.
Cutting temperatures recorded when micromilling
are considerably lower in comparison with conven-
tional milling, however, its accurate determination
presents difficulties related to the small shear area and
the need of measuring equipment with high sampling
rates.
With regard to the quality of the machined com-
ponent, burr formation is the most critical aspect,
since roughness values are not drastically inferior to
those observed in conventional machining (seldom in
the range of tens of nanometres). A great deal of
efforts has been put in strategies to prevent or mini-
mize burr formation, most of them are based on the
selection of the optimal cutting parameters.
Acoustic emission is the principal technique used
to monitor micromilling presenting a number of ad-
vantages over force and vibration signals monitoring.
Special attention has been paid to the prediction of
tool failure, surface finish and burr formation.
Finally, although it has been reported that conven-
tional machining centres can be satisfactorily used for
micromilling under certain circumstances, machine
tools specifically designed for this purpose are re-
quired in order to fully achieve the benefits of this
technology.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the following research agencies:
CAPES and CNPq (Brazil) and FCT (Portugal). Ad-
ditional thanks go to Dr. Tulio H. Panzera, from the Uni-
versity of São João del-Rei, Brazil, for the support with
the scanning electron microscopy.
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