Abstract
When using foil queue microelectrodes (FQ-microelectrodes) for micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM), the processed results of each foil microelectrode (F-microelectrode) can be stacked to construct three-dimensional (3D) microstructures. However, the surface of the 3D microstructure obtained from this process will have a step effect, which has an adverse effect on the surface quality and shape accuracy of the 3D microstructures. To focus on this problem, this paper proposes to use FQ-microelectrodes with tapered structures for micro-EDM, thereby eliminating the step effect on the 3D microstructure’s surface. By using a low-speed wire EDM machine, a copper foil with thickness of 300 μm was processed to obtain a FQ-microelectrode in which each of the F-microelectrodes has a tapered structure along its thickness direction. These tapered structures could effectively improve the construction precision of the 3D microstructure and effectively eliminate the step effect. In this paper, the effects of the taper angle and the number of microelectrodes on the step effect were investigated. The experimental results show that the step effect on the 3D microstructure’s surface became less evident with the taper angle and the number of F-microelectrodes increased. Finally, under the processing voltage of 120 V, pulse width of 1 μs and pulse interval of 10 μs, a FQ-microelectrode (including 40 F-microelectrodes) with 10° taper angle was used for micro-EDM. The obtained 3D microstructure has good surface quality and the step effect was essentially eliminated.
Highlights
Micro electrical discharge machining is a non-contact machining technology, which has the advantage of a small cutting force
Using the low speed wire electrical discharge turning (LS-WEDT) method combined with the numerical control technology, Sun et al [12] manufactured the microelectrodes and micro-cutting tools with good surface quality and high machining accuracy
The32s2urface of the 83D microstructure obtained from this process will have step effect, which will affect the surface quality and shape accuracy of t6h.eC3oDncmluisciroonsstructure
Summary
Micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is a non-contact machining technology, which has the advantage of a small cutting force. In order to improve the machining efficiency and reduce the electrode wear, Fu et al [7] proposed piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM based on the inverse piezoelectric effect. Using the low speed wire electrical discharge turning (LS-WEDT) method combined with the numerical control technology, Sun et al [12] manufactured the microelectrodes and micro-cutting tools with good surface quality and high machining accuracy.
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