Surface Roughness in Robotic Milling of UHMWPE Relative to CNC Machining: A Topical Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56532/mjsat.v6i3.748Keywords:
UHMWPE, robotic milling, CNC milling, machining parameters surface roughnessAbstract
Computer numerical control (CNC) milling remains the most established machining method for ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), where surface roughness is primarily governed by spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut. Industrial robotic milling has attracted increasing interest for its flexibility, large workspace and accessibility to complex geometries, but it is generally associated with reduced surface quality because of structural compliance. This topical review examines whether the material-specific machining behaviour of UHMWPE reduces the surface roughness penalty usually attributed to robotic milling. Fourteen studies were synthesised under an explicit relevance-based evidence hierarchy. Across the CNC studies reviewed, reported average roughness for UHMWPE spans Ra 0.577 to 2.61 µm. The single available robotic study on UHMWPE reports Ra 1.209 to 2.331 µm, narrowing to 1.209 to 1.656 µm at 9500 rpm, values that fall within the CNC range rather than an order of magnitude above it. Because the studies differ in tooling, workpiece geometry and measurement configuration, this overlap indicates that a smaller difference between CNC and robotic surface roughness is mechanically plausible for UHMWPE, not that the two platforms are equivalent. The review identifies the absence of matched comparative experiments as the principal gap and sets out the design that such a study would require.References
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Copyright (c) 2026 Wan Nor Shela Ezwane Wan Jusoh, Mohamad Irwan Yahaya, Mahamad Hisyam Mahamad Basri, Shukri Zakaria, Md Razak Daud
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