Surface texturing is a manufacturing process to generate periodic geometric patterns on component surfaces in order to achieve certain functions, such as tribological property, adhesion, and wettability. This thesis presents a surface texturing technique using ballend milling with high feed speed and spindle speed modulation. The ratio between the feedrate and the cutting tool radius is in the range of 0.2-0.4 when the spindle speed is a constant, and a certain amount of workpiece material remains after the cutting process to form the surface texture. A sinusoidal modulation signal is added to the spindle speed command, so the spindle speed becomes time-varying in order to generate different texture profiles based on the modulated frequency and amplitude.

The cutting tool kinematics of the surface texturing process are modeled considering the tool tip run-out and deflection due to the cutting forces. Z-map method is used to simulate the geometry of the 3-D surface texture based on the tool tip trajectory. The effects of modulation parameters on tool tip trajectories and surface textures are analyzed. The relationship between the micro features of the surface texture and the process parameters are determined. Surface texturing experiments are conducted based on the proposed technique, and tribology tests are performed on the textured surfaces. It is shown that the textured surfaces present frictional anisotropy, which depends on the process conditions and the modulation parameters of the spindle speed. The proposed technique is able to achieve fast generation of various surface textures without additional instrumentation, and the final texture geometry is controllable based on the presented kinematics model.