Geometrical quality improvement of high aspect ratio micromilled pins

Mechanical micromachining is a reference process for producing 3D complex microparts and specifically tools for other processes as molds for micro injection molding and males for microextrusion. High aspect ratio features as bars, ribs, pins, etc. are very common in these cases and their quality strongly affects the final plastic part quality. This paper focus es on high aspect ratio steel pins, since they are one of the most challenging features to be manufactured on microextrusion males. The pin geometrical quality has been defined according to the standards and a suitable measurement procedure has been set up with the aim to study the micromilling process parameters effects on the most representative pin quality characteristics. The statistical analysis results point out some criteria for selecting the best process parameters.