Width Overcut Research Articles

Machining guidelines for fabricating microgrooves of varied cross-sections by electrochemical micromachining

Simple microgrooves can be fabricated easily, whereas fabrication of varied cross-sectional microgrooves on metallic surfaces is still a challenging task by present traditional as well as non-traditional methods. An application of electrochemical micromachining (ECμM) for machining various cross-sectional microgrooves on SS has been proposed in this paper. Influences of process parameters on width overcut have been investigated, and experimental findings have been applied to devise guidelines to fabricate various cross-sectional microgrooves. Disc microtool with longitudinal vibration has been utilised in layered machining of microgrooves. Duty ratio has been varied from 30% to 60% along depth of microgroove with other identical process parameters. The guidelines for straight, reverse tapered, barrel-shaped, double stepped, spherical based, and microgroove with internal pocket have been developed, and fabrications of these microgrooves have been demonstrated successfully. The experimental findings may be useful for planning and machining various cross-sections of microgrooves for different applications.

Machining guidelines for fabricating microgrooves of varied cross-sections by electrochemical micromachining

Simple microgrooves can be fabricated easily, whereas fabrication of varied cross-sectional microgrooves on metallic surfaces is still a challenging task by present traditional as well as non-traditional methods. An application of electrochemical micromachining (ECμM) for machining various cross-sectional microgrooves on SS has been proposed in this paper. Influences of process parameters on width overcut have been investigated, and experimental findings have been applied to devise guidelines to fabricate various cross-sectional microgrooves. Disc microtool with longitudinal vibration has been utilised in layered machining of microgrooves. Duty ratio has been varied from 30% to 60% along depth of microgroove with other identical process parameters. The guidelines for straight, reverse tapered, barrel-shaped, double stepped, spherical based, and microgroove with internal pocket have been developed, and fabrications of these microgrooves have been demonstrated successfully. The experimental findings may be useful for planning and machining various cross-sections of microgrooves for different applications.

Investigation on micromilling of through microslots on titanium by electrochemical micromachining

Titanium (Ti) possesses best strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance and exceptional biocompatibility. Therefore, they are very attractive for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and biomedical uses. Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) technique could be possible alternative for machining of titanium especially in micro domain. The work elaborated in this paper demonstrated successful fabrication of microslots on commercially pure titanium by electrochemical micromilling utilising EMM process. This study also investigated influence of various EMM process parameters such as machining voltage, pulse frequency, duty ratio and microtool feed rate to establish most suitable EMM process parameters for enhancement of machining accuracy of microslots. From the established parameters width overcut of microslot has been reduced from 126 µm to 32 µm as well as degree of taper is also improved from 8° to 0.7°. This work also demonstrated successful fabrication of micro cantilevers of 126 µm and 119 µm widths with total length of 875 µm and 861 µm respectively. The outcomes of this experimentation can be effectively utilised for generation of various micro features on pure commercial titanium intended for MEMS and biomedical applications.

Investigation on micromilling of through microslots on titanium by electrochemical micromachining

Titanium (Ti) possesses best strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance and exceptional biocompatibility. Therefore, they are very attractive for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and biomedical uses. Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) technique could be possible alternative for machining of titanium especially in micro domain. The work elaborated in this paper demonstrated successful fabrication of microslots on commercially pure titanium by electrochemical micromilling utilising EMM process. This study also investigated influence of various EMM process parameters such as machining voltage, pulse frequency, duty ratio and microtool feed rate to establish most suitable EMM process parameters for enhancement of machining accuracy of microslots. From the established parameters width overcut of microslot has been reduced from 126 µm to 32 µm as well as degree of taper is also improved from 8° to 0.7°. This work also demonstrated successful fabrication of micro cantilevers of 126 µm and 119 µm widths with total length of 875 µm and 861 µm respectively. The outcomes of this experimentation can be effectively utilised for generation of various micro features on pure commercial titanium intended for MEMS and biomedical applications.

Experimental investigations into machining accuracy and surface roughness of microgrooves fabricated by electrochemical micromachining

Microgrooves are one of the basic microfeatures fabricated on different microproducts, used to integrate micro systems in various fields. Service life and product functioning of microproducts are directly influenced by shape, size, and surface quality of microgrooves fabricated on it. Hence, these are the important criteria to be considered while fabricating microgrooves on micro devices. This article presents the experimental study into fabrication of microgrooves on stainless steel by electrochemical micromachining. The influence of electrochemical micromachining process parameters like applied voltage, pulse frequency, duty ratio, electrolyte concentration, and microtool scanning speed on machining accuracy, that is, width overcut, length overcut and depth overcut, material removal rate, linearity of microgroove, depth profile, and surface finish were investigated during microgroove generation. From the experimental results, optimal parameters obtained were applied voltage of 2.6 V, pulse frequency of 8 MHz, 30% duty ratio, electrolyte concentration of 0.15 M H2SO4, and microtool scanning speed of 93.75 μm/s for machining of accurate microgroove, with best surface finish. Finally, microfeatures like “C”-shaped microgroove of rectangular cross section and multiple microgrooves as required in micro thermal devices have been machined with optimal parametric settings. This study will be useful for machining of need-based microgrooves on microproducts like micro actuators, micro pumps, micro coolers, and micromixers.

Sidewall Insulation of Microtool for Electrochemical Micromachining to Enhance the Machining Accuracy

This paper presents a new approach for sidewall insulation of microtool by dip coating using liquid solution made of polymer and resin dissolved in isopropyl alcohol and use of acetone for opening the front end of the microtool. This method can also be used to remove the previously applied coat completely so that the microtool can be reinsulated again for the reuse. To investigate the effectiveness of insulating film, in-situ fabricated tungsten microtool of 104 µm diameter was insulated with 4.5-µm thick film by proposed method. Microfeatures like microhole and microgroove were machined by electrochemical micromachining (EMM) using uninsulated microtool and insulated microtool on stainless steel. The machining accuracy of the microfeatures machined were compared in terms of overcut and taper angle generated on microfeatures. In this way, 33.78% reduction in radial overcut of microhole and 58.64% reduction in width overcut of microgroove were observed. Taper angle was reduced from 40.57° to 18.00° and 58.39° to 25.20° for microhole and microgroove, respectively. The influence of sidewall insulation on shape accuracy, machining rate, and surface roughness of machined microfeatures was also investigated.

Influence of electrochemical micromachining parameters during generation of microgrooves

Fabrication of microparts has become increasingly important with an advancement of product miniaturization in various fields. Microgrooves are used as one of the key microfeatures in many microproducts like microthermal devices, microheat exchangers, microreactors, micropumps, and micromechanical systems. Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) can be effectively utilized for the fabrication of microgrooves because of its important benefits like reusability of the tool, no stress, burr-free surfaces, and ability to cut the material irrespective of the hardness. This paper presents the influence of EMM parameters like applied voltage, pulse frequency, duty ratio, tool feed rate, and electrolyte concentration on the machining accuracy, i.e., width overcut, depth overcut, and material removal rate during fabrication of a 500 μm-deep microgroove in stainless steel. An in situ-fabricated tungsten microtool of 110 μm diameter was used to generate a microgroove using the developed EMM setup. A high-quality microgroove with 55 μm width overcut and 10-μm depth overcut with an aspect ratio of 2.31 was fabricated using the optimum setting of machining parameters.