Recent Advances in Micro/Nano-cutting: Effect of Tool Edge and Material Properties

Micro- and nano-machining technology has been applied in industry to generate high-precision parts with micro/nano-metric accuracy or feature size in the recent decades. Cutting is one of the most powerful manufacturing processes, and the material removal mechanism is urgently demanded by the industry to understand and improve the micro/nano-machining process efficiently at a low cost. This paper presents the recent advances in cutting mechanism and its applicability for predicting the surface generation and chip formation, especially when material is removed in micro- and nanoscale. In addition to the industry-concerned performance parameters, fundamental physical parameters such as stresses, strains, temperatures, phase transformation, minimum uncut chip thickness and size effects are discussed in this paper for the in-depth understanding of the micro/nano-cutting process.