Effect of Micro-EDM on Diameter Consistency of Micro-Hole Arrays

Abstract

The inkjet template is an important part of digital printing equipment. The diameter of hole arrays on the template determines the consistency of the ink droplet and thus affects print quality. To improve the printing performance of digital printing equipment, this study investigated the effect of micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) on the diameter consistency of micro-hole arrays on an inkjet template. Combining block electrical discharge grinding and wire electrical discharge grinding enabled the online processing of the fine tool electrode, whose diameter can be stably controlled at less than 45 μm, whose maximum diameter deviation was about 1 μm. The tool electrode can also be used to process micro-hole arrays. Subsequently, the relationship between the discharge energy of micro-EDM and the erosion material was theoretically analyzed, as was the effects of the diameter consistency of the micro-electrode itself on that of the micro-hole array processed by the micro-electrode and the relationship between processing parameters and the discharge gap between the micro-electrode and the workpiece. Experimentations were conducted on the effect of the flow rate, flush angle, and rotation speed of the electrode and the resistivity of de-ionized water to the diameter consistency of the micro-hole arrays. On the optimized parameters, a 16×16 micro-hole array with a diameter deviation of less than 2 μm was successfully processed, and the average diameter of the holes, about 44 μm, was used for the inkjet template. Beside, an electrode with a diameter of 14μm is also machined and it was used to process a 8×8 micro-hole array, whose diameter deviation is 0.9μm and average diameter is less than 20μm. Large number of experiments show that by the proposed method, one electrode can stably machined 800 holes with diameter less than 50μm, and their diameter deviation is less than 3μm. ​The digital printing equipment with these holes can meet the current demand for components with micro-hole arrays.