Minimum thickness of cut in micromachining

The authors discuss the significance of the minimum thickness of cut (MTC) which is defined as the minimum undeformed thickness of chip removed from a work surface at a cutting edge under perfect performance of a metal cutting system. Following a brief look at the relation between MTC and the extreme machining accuracy attainable for a specific cutting condition, it is shown that a very fine chip with an undeformed thickness of the order of a nanometer can be obtained from experimental face turning of electroplated copper by a well-defined diamond tool. To understand the nanometric metal cutting process, a computer simulation using an atomistic model is proposed.