Investigating flank face friction during precision micro cutting of commercially pure titanium via plunging tests with diamond grooving tools

This study investigates flank face friction while micro machining commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti grade 2) work material considering size effects. It is important to understand friction phenomena at the tool flank and work material surface since they affect the surface integrity of the machined parts. A single crystal diamond grooving tool is used in machining experiments to reduce the influence of cutting edge radius. In addition, plunging type of cutting experiments were performed to investigate the influence of flank face contact on the machined surface. A friction model which is based on work and tool material properties is proposed to model the contribution of adhesion and deformation of the flank face coefficient of friction. The results show that for the cp-Ti and diamond tool pair, adhesion seems to be the dominant model of friction and also contributes to the size effect. The deformation friction becomes more dominant during the chip formation stage. When cutting edge effect is eliminated, the influences of flank and rake face friction on the size effect are shown.