NI Jing, CUI Zhi, HE Lihua, FU Xin, ZHU Zefei
PTFE, with the excellent physical and chemical properties, be came an important material in producing key parts in the fields such as electronic communication, aerospace, et al. Compared with the molding and sintering processes, the cutting technology might be used to manufacture PTFE parts with complex structures more efficiently. However, PTFE had the characteristics of strong toughness, high resilience, poor thermal conductivity, and large linear expansion coefficient. So, the machining quality of PTFE parts was difficult to be guaranteed. In some special cases, the high surface cleanliness of the PTFE parts was also required, which presented new challenges to the cutting technology of PTFE materials. Firstly, the machinability of PTFE was summarized based on the basic mechanics, physical and chemical properties. Secondly, the cutting removal mechanism of PTFE was analyzed based on the polymer cutting theory and research methods. Then, the cutting technology of PTFE such as turning, milling, and drilling was presented. Finally, the applications of PTFE cutting technology was discussed. The problems in the existing researches in terms of material property research, basic cutting theory research, and cutting technology exploration were summarized. And the research trend and focus were prospected.