Experimental application of a laboratory equipment for micro-electroforming using models manufactured with additive technology

Abstract

One of the manufacturing processes applications on a microscopic scale, consists in modifying parts or components´ surfaces to improve their properties. Unconventional machining processes are needed to generate complex geometries, high details reproduction, and excellent finished surfaces at that scale. Micro sinker electrical discharge manufacturing (μ-SEDM) process could be one good option. The electrode manufacturing is one of the main drawbacks. It supposes a big resources waste before starting to manufacture. In this way, working on a microscopic scale becomes a challenge to obtain different shapes and textures on functional surfaces. In this work, combined use of micro-electroforming and digital light processing (DLP) additive manufacturing is presented. These two additive techniques are completely different and unrelated in their applications, materials, and technological fundamentals. However, their combination is a low-cost option to obtain good results in the manufacture of μ-SEDM electrodes. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a micro-electroforming equipment to meet the challenge. Furthermore, device had to have the ability to adapt the process parameters to the needs of the parts. As a result of this experimental application, we got high-quality parts, which could have an industrial application.