Laser Micromachining in Fabrication of Reverse-µEDM Tools for Producing Arrayed Protrusions

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Manufacturing Technology
• Microfabrication

Background:

• Micro-electrical discharge machining (µEDM) is a key technology for fabricating micro-scale components.
• Reverse-µEDM offers a novel approach for creating intricate product geometries.
• The fabrication of precise tooling is critical for the success of Reverse-µEDM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize the fabrication of tool plates for Reverse-µEDM using laser beam micromachining (LBµM).
• To investigate the influence of LBµM process parameters on micro-hole quality.
• To demonstrate the capability of Reverse-µEDM in producing high-accuracy micro-features using the fabricated tools.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Nd: YAG laser beam micromachining (LBµM) to fabricate micro-holes in titanium sheets.
• Employed Grey relation analysis to optimize LBµM parameters (duty cycle, current).
• Fabricated micro-holes with elliptical and droplet profiles for tool plate creation.
• Applied Reverse-µEDM using the optimized tool plates to produce analogous product protrusions.

Main Results:

• Optimized LBµM parameters (1.25% duty cycle, 20% current) yielded burr-free micro-holes with minimal dimensional error.
• The fabricated tool plates enabled the production of high-dimensional accuracy protrusions via Reverse-µEDM.
• Achieved minimal deterioration on the produced micro-features.

Conclusions:

• Laser beam micromachining (LBµM) is effective for fabricating precise tool plates for Reverse-µEDM.
• Grey relation analysis successfully optimized LBµM parameters for micro-hole quality.
• Reverse-µEDM, utilizing LBµM-fabricated tools, is a viable method for high-accuracy micro-product manufacturing.