Micro-Texturing for Micro-part based on 2D Image

Micro-texturing is a process used to produce micro scale texture (pattern) on part surface.Micro-texture is found in many functions, such as for producing tribological performance on apart surface, or giving aesthetic value to product. This paper presents a developed method to produce 3D micro-texture on micro-part based on 2D image as input data of the desired patterns. The 2D image data undergo three processing-step. First is the image preparation and enhancement which includes converting original image into grayscale image. Second step is the XY pre-scaled mapping. The last step is the Z pre-scaled mapping. In this step, the gray scalei mage color intensity is converted into specified contour height data of micro-texture. Once acomplete 3D contour data of micro-texture is obtained, the machining strategy and parameters are determined, and tool paths are then generated. The tool path generation embeds the gouging avoidance scheme throughout the process to produce gouge-free Cutter Location (CL) points. Three 2D input images were used to test the method and algorithm using 3-axis micromilling process on a 5-axis micro-milling machine. The results show that the developed method can successfully produce 3D micro-texture, thus, can be further used for micro-texture surface machining.