Experimental study on electrochemical micromachining

Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) appears to be very promising as a future micromachining technique since in many areas of applications it offers several advantages that include higher machining rate, better precision and control and a wide range of materials that can be machined. Present paper will highlight the influence of various electrochemical micromachining parameters like machining voltage, electrolyte concentration, pulse period and frequency on material removal rate, accuracy and surface finish in microscopic domain. According to the present experimental study, the most effective values for micromachining parameters have been considered as 3 V machining voltage, 55 Hz frequency and 20 g/l electrolyte concentration that can enhance the accuracy with highest possible amount of material removal. It has been observed through SEM micrographs that low voltage, moderate electrolyte concentration and high frequency can improve the accuracy with lesser number of micro-sparks. Radial stray cut and on-line pulse pattern during generation of micro-sparks are also considered for selecting the effective zone of EMM parameters. This research development made in this area of EMM will open up many challenging possibilities for effective utilization of electrochemical material removal mechanism in the area of micro-manufacturing. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.