Optimization of electrochemical etching process for manufacturing of micro electrodes for micro-EDM application

Abstract

Application of Micro-Nano scale Electrical Discharge Machining is rapidly growing in manufacturing of metal products irrespective of its hardness having geometric features in range of micrometer to nanometer scale. To achieve such small geometrical features, smaller dimensional tool electrode is required. However fabrication of this tiny electrode with desired dimension and also handling of such tiny electrodes is a primary aspect that needs to be investigated systematically to use the Micro-Nano scale EDM in batch production of micro parts. In this work authors investigate the application of electrochemical etching process for fabricating EDM electrodes smaller than 10 µm. While the smallest electrode fabricated with the optimized parameter is 3.33 µm, their performance as electrode in micro-EDM has been studied systematically. To the best of authors’ knowledge such studies are not reported in the published literatures. However, the fabrication of such smaller size features by applying alternating current in ECE has been attempted previously but not for micro-EDM applications.