Accuracy Improvement and Precision Measurement on Micro-EDM

Abstract

Micro electrical discharge machining (µEDM) is used for fabricating microstructures and micro components such as arrays of micro tools, micropillars, and complex three-dimensional shapes. These micro features are extensively used in the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), bio-MEMS, environmental and information technology, and so on. µEDM variants such as micro electrical discharge drilling (µED-drilling), reverse micro electrical discharge machining (R-µEDM), drilling with in situ fabricated tool, block micro electrical discharge grinding (B-µEDG), micro wire electrical discharge grinding (µWEDG), and micro electrical discharge milling (µED-milling) are equally contributing toward the fabrication of microscale parts and components. For the last few decades, researchers have mainly concentrated on the dimensional accuracy and precision measurement while fabricating microstructures for quantifying the response measures to determine the quality machining in micro level. Several factors such as machining parameters (electrical and non-electrical), tool and workpiece fixation, resolution, and repositioning capacity of the machine control dimensional accuracy and precision altogether. In addition, for machining the micro features, micro tools have been used. So, it is very important to study the tool wear because it directly affects the accuracy of micro features during machining. Tool wear cannot be completely avoided, but it can be minimized up to a significant level. Moreover, it can also be done using tool wear compensation. These errors are highly responsible for getting the inaccurate dimension of the microstructure. It is important to analyze the effect of each factor meticulously to achieve a precise and accurate dimension of micro components.