Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability

As machines and products increase in productivity while shrinking in size, issues of contamination related failures become a greater risk. Previously, common contaminants such as sand from sand casting, dust from the air, or chips from machining, were within generally allowable product tolerances. The semiconductor industry was first to encounter contamination related problems from dust on their micro sized features. Now, the automo- tive industry is discovering millimeter sized chips blocking lubrication valves and scoring precision surfaces. This report details an experimental investigation of how chip related contamination may be controlled by varying milling and drilling cutting parameters such as feed, speed, depth of cut, and lubrication. Based on the assumptions of this paper, where the optimal chip is likely short, lightweight, with a large wavelength, and few rota- tions, it is found that the optimal milling chip is produced with increased speed, increased lubrication, decreased feed, and decreased depth of cut. For drilling, the optimal chip is accomplished through increased lubrication, decreased speed, and increased feed. Future research is required to determine the optimal chip type.