Abstract
A through-mask electrochemical micromachining process with a foamed cathode (foamed-cathode through-mask electrochemical micromachining (TMEMM)) has recently been proposed involving micro-scale surface microstructures with a high geometric consistency that are fabricated on the curved-surface workpiece. In this paper, to make the foamed-cathode TMEMM process more cost-efficient in the applications, significant modifications are made to this process and an upgraded version of the foamed-cathode TMEMM process is developed. In this modified process, the sandwich-like unit (including the foamed cathode, mask, and workpiece) is closely assembled by the magnetic field force instead of the conventionally-used mechanical force and is kept moving up-and-down inside the electrolyte, avoiding the use of the traditional pump-driven circulation for the electrode process. Experiments are carried out to evaluate the machining effect of this modified TMEMM for fabricating micro-dimples. The research results verify that this modified TMEMM process can produce highly uniform micro-dimples whose minimum CV (coefficient of variation) values in depth and in diameter are 5.4% and 1.9%, respectively, with smooth surfaces of the minimum Ra being 0.21–0.35 µm. These values are smaller than those previously reported. This results in the positive effects on the mass transfer driven by magnetohydrodynamic convection induced by the magnetic field within the interelectrode and the foamed electrode.
Highlights
Engineers and scientists have been deliberately designing and manufacturing a variety of surface microstructures to improve the properties and functions of products
The photoresist through-mask cannot be well formed on the curved surface; as a result, the traditional through mask electrochemical micromachining (TMEMM) process is somewhat limited in industrial applications
Unlike the conventional TMEMM processes using the bonded through-mask, a removable and reusable through-mask electrochemical machining process was exploited by Zhu et al [22,23,24]
Summary
Engineers and scientists have been deliberately designing and manufacturing a variety of surface microstructures to improve the properties and functions of products. Unlike the conventional TMEMM processes using the bonded through-mask, a removable and reusable through-mask electrochemical machining process was exploited by Zhu et al [22,23,24] In this novel process, the mask is pressed mechanically against the workpiece, and it can be reused repeatedly, showing a favorable operational convenience and cost-effective superiority. Our research [30] shows that the foamed cathode TMEMM is able to achieve better geometric consistency in the fabricated microstructures mainly due to the significantly uniform current distribution on the entire machining areas (as shown in Figure 1b) and the excellent mass transfer conditions within the interelectrode gap.
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