The Fabrication of Trans-Scale Micro-Fuze Safety Device

Abstract

Fuze Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) has become a popular subject in recent years. Studies have been done for the application of MEMS-based fuze safety and arm devices. The existing researches mainly focused on reducing the cost and volume of the fuze safety device. The reduction in volume allows more payloads and, thus, makes small-caliber rounds more effective and the weapon system more affordable. At present, MEMS-based fuze safety devices are fabricated mainly by using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) or LIGA technology, and the fabrication process research on the fuze MEMS safety device is in the exploring stage. In this paper, a new trans-scale fabrication method of metal-based fuze MEMS safety device is presented based on UV-LIGA technology and the micro Wire-cut Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM). The method consists of fabrication of micro-spring by UV-LIGA technology, the fabrication of mesoscale structure by WEDM, the micro assembly of micro spring and mesoscale structure. Because UV-LIGA technology and WEDM technology were introduced, the production cycle was shortened and the cost was reduced. The overall dimension of the micro-fuse safety device is 9.5×12.3×0.6 mm and the smallest dimension is 10μm. Besides, four problems in the fabrication process have been solved effectively, which is helpful for the fabrication of similar kinds of micro devices. The fabrication method presented in this paper provides a new option for the development of MEMS fuze.