A comprehensive study on flank wear progression of polycrystalline diamond micro-tool during micro end-milling of SiCp/Al composites

SiCp/Al composites are extremely difficult to process due to the existence of reinforced particles and the associated severe tool wear. The conducted experiments indicate that abrasive and adhesive wear are main flank wear types of PCD micro-tools in micro slotting end-milling of 45vol% SiCp/2024Al composites. Then, an analytical methodology incorporating two-body/three-body abrasive wear and adhesive wear is presented to estimate the PCD micro-tool flank wear land width in micro end-milling of SiCp/Al composites. The results show that adhesive wear is dominant at the initial machining stage, and two-body abrasive wear becomes the main tool flank wear mechanism at the later machining stage which takes about 60% of the tool flank wear under the given machining conditions. Besides, the effects of reinforced particles and machining/tool parameters on the tool flank wear progressions are analyzed.