Voltage pulse frequency and duty ratioeffects in an electrochemical discharge microdrilling process of Pyrex glass

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) is used to microdrill glass wafers. One of the drawbacks of ECDM is the heat-affected zone (HAZ) left on the microdrilled hole surface. To reduce the HAZ, a series of rectangular voltage pulses, were applied in this study instead of the rectified or full-wave DC voltages. The effect of the frequency and duty ratio of the voltage pulse on the ECDM of Pyrex glass was experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the thermal damage of the microdrilled hole decreases as the frequency increases and as the duty ratio decreases. It was also found that the clearance increases as the tool diameter decreases. This experimental investigation provides a new method that exhibits several advantages over conventional ECDM. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.