Fabrication of microgrooves with varied cross-sections by electrochemical micromachining

Abstract

Microgrooves are one of the important micro-features machined on various microproducts. The demand of complex microgrooves with varied cross section has increased in various fields, since specific cross-sectional shape of microgroove improves the product performance, due to increased inner surface area. Machining of simple microgroove is relatively easy, but when the cross section of the microgroove is varying along its depth, it becomes difficult from microtool fabrication point, as well as from the process point of view. The purpose of this study is to verify the possibilities of machining varied cross-sectional microgrooves on metallic surfaces by electrochemical micro-machining (EMM). Different cross sections of the microgrooves have been machined by regulating the important EMM process parameters such as applied voltage, duty ratio, and machining time, along the depth during machining of microgrooves, utilizing developed experimental setup. This technique enables the machining of various cross sections of the microgrooves by EMM utilizing the single-disk shape microtool. Finally, machining of different cross-sectional microgrooves like reverse tapered, barrel shaped, double stepped, spherical based microgrooves, and microgroove with internal pocket has been demonstrated successfully. The experimental findings may be useful for machining of complex microgrooves suitable for micro-coolers, micro-reactors, and micro-mixers etc. which needs specific geometry for product functioning.