Micro wire electrochemical machining with an axial electrolyte flow

Micro wire electrochemical machining is a useful technique to produce high-aspect-ratio slit micro-structures. To improve processing stability, the axial electrolyte flow is adopted to renew electrolytes in the machining gap. A wire electrochemical micro-machining system with an axial electrolyte flow unit is developed. A mathematical model of tool feed rate is presented. To investigate the influence of electrolyte flow on processing stability and machining efficiency, comparative experiments were carried out. The influence of applied voltage and electrolyte concentration on machining accuracy is studied and the parameters such as electrolyte flow rate and applied voltage are optimized. Low initial machining gap is applied to decrease the stray current machining in the initial machining period. With the optimal parameters, the high-aspect-ratio micro spline and curved flow channel with the slit width of 160 mu m have been fabricated on 5-mm-thick stainless steel (0Cr18Ni9). The width of the slit is uniform and the aspect ratio is 31.