Machining Guidelines for Fabricating Microgrooves of Varied Cross Sections by Electrochemical Micromachining

Abstract

Increased surface area at the cross section of varied cross-sectional microgroove improves the product performance; hence, complex microgrooves of different cross sections are machined on various micro-products. Fabrication of straight microgroove on metallic surfaces is simple, whereas machining of varied cross-sectional microgroove on metallic surfaces becomes the challenging task from the aspects like fabrication of complex shaped microtool and suitable microgroove manufacturing process. Very few methods are capable to machine such complex shaped microgrooves. This chapter explores the potential of machining varied cross-sectional microgrooves on metallic surfaces by electrochemical micromachining. Important process parameters such as applied voltage, duty ratio and machining time have been controlled along the depth while machining the microgrooves. Influences of these parameters on width have been investigated, and results have been applied to devise the machining guidelines to fabricate varied cross-sectional microgrooves. The guidelines for machining straight, reverse tapered, barrel-shaped, double stepped, spherical based and microgroove with internal pocket have been developed. Finally, fabrications of these microgrooves have been demonstrated successfully by following developed guidelines. The developed guidelines can be applied for machining complex microgrooves for micro-coolers, micro-reactors and micro-mixers that need definite shape and size for their working.