A review on micro machining of polymer composites

Polymer-based composites have shown remarkable mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. As a result, these composites are broadly used in several industries like biomedical, transportation, oil and gas supply, military, aerospace, electronics, communications, and food packaging. Many of these applications require machining of the composite at the micro scale for shaping and creating required features, assembly of different components, and many more. This article reviews the current state of the art micromachining of polymer-based composites. Various tool-based micromechanical processes such as micro-drilling, micro-milling, and micro turning are summarized. These micromachining operations are most widely used in the production of medical components, micro-channel for lab on chip, micro molds, fluidic circuits, micro valves, electronic tooling, submarine actuators, and sensors. Machinability studies such as cutting force, surface finishing, burr formation, performance characteristics, and size effect have been critically discussed. This review also summarizes the current challenges of micromachining of polymer-based nanocomposites and the future prospective of polymer composites.