Ti alloy and ceramic are applicable to high temperature industry because of excellent material properties but it is classified to difficult-to-cut material. In case of Ti alloy, high chemical reaction between tool and workpiece, low thermal conductivity, and high elastic modulus affect severe wear and tool breakage in conventional machining
such as micro-milling operation. Also, conventional machining of structural ceramic application is difficult because of high hardness and high brittleness.
In the present paper, Ti2AlC showing metal properties such as Titanium and Aluminum, and ceramic properties such as Titanium carbide was fabricated by 3-dimensional high energy ball milling and
spark plasma sintering process. Crystall phase and microstructure were investigated by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy on fabricated Ti2AlC material. Also, not only relative density and vickers hardness but also thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity were evaluated for machining characteristics such as material removal rate, electrode wear length and surface quality of micro-channel machined by micro-electrical discharge milling, compared to that of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Relative density of Ti2AlC material was 98.78% and vickers hardness was measured 5.06GPa. Thermal
conductivity and electrical conductivity was 34.4W/m k and 4.167×106S/m respectively. Besides, the machining characteristics of micro-channel machined by micro-ED milling on Ti2AlC material and Ti-6Al-4V were evaluated under various voltage and capacitance. Material removal rate and surface quality of Ti2AlC material were better than that of Ti-6Al-4V because thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity of Ti2AlC material was above 3∼5 times higher than that of Ti-6Al-4V.
Consequently, feasibility of Ti2AlC material containing Ti, Al and TiC was presented in micro-ED milling of micro-channel shape for high temperature parts and products.