High-quality cutting edge preparation of micromilling tools using wet abrasive jet machining process

The cutting edge preparation is a common process in the production chain of cemented carbide macro tools. It is used to reduce failures resulting from grinding and to generate a specific cutting edge geometry that is appropriate for the application of the cutting tool. The adhesion of a subsequently applied coating is also increased due to the rounded and more regular shape of a prepared cutting edge. Even though cutting edge preparation is able to significantly increase the life of macro tools, it is not state of the art in the production of micro tools since common preparation processes have not been developed and established for this case of application. Within the investigations, the feasibility of the wet abrasive jet machining process for the preparation of micromilling tools is analysed. For this purpose, the preparation process is refined which allows an effective reduction of the defects and a successful adjustment of different rounding sizes of the cutting edge in a relatively short preparation time. In addition, a high-quality statistical model is achieved to describe the interdependency of the process parameters. In conclusion, TiAlN layers are applied on the rounded cutting edges by a PVD-process without obstructive droplets.