Micro ECDM scanning process with feedback control of flexible contact force

Abstract

Quartz glass has been widely used in frontier fields of MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) and sensors due to its excellent chemical and mechanical properties. Although ECDM (electrochemical discharge machining) is a non-traditional material removal process suitable for machining electrically non-conductive materials of high temperature resistance and hard brittleness, the adopted feeding strategy of tool electrode directly affects the machining results, especially in a micro ECDM scanning process. The existing feed methods still cannot maintain a suitable machining gap with a minimum given contact force during the micro ECDM scanning process, causing inconsistent gap state and the damage to machining stability and geometric accuracy of micro structures. In this research, a novel spindle combining a flexure hinge and a high-resolution micro-force sensor is designed, achieving the function of real-time servo control of a given micro contact force. Using the micro tool electrodes (<Φ200 μm) fabricated by the combined process of reverse-copying micro EDM and TF-WEDG (tangential feed-wire electrode discharge grinding), the circular structures are successfully machined on quartz glass with the optimized parameters of open-circuit voltage, scanning speed, and number of scanning. To guarantee the consistent depth along a scanning layer, a feed strategy of quantified depth with servo control of flexible micro force (SCFMF-QDFS) is proposed, and micro 3D structures of S-shape and square are machined with controllable accuracy of ±2 μm and ±4 μm in depth and width.