A Study on the Ductile Mode Cutting of Lithium Niobate

This paper describes the cutting characteristics of lithium niobate, which is used for surface acoustic wave type micropumps, regarding the formation of micro grooves by direct cutting. Since lithium niobate is a brittle material with a strong crystal orientation dependency, significant differences were observed in the characteristics of the finished surface according to different directions of cutting. The ductile mode cutting of lithium niobate was found to be feasible with cutting depths of approx. 5 μm or less. Also, results of the study show the feasibility of the formation of minute grooves through the cutting of lithium niobate, using milling with an end mill.