UV-LIGA和微细电火花加工技术组合制作三维金属微结构的研究

研究了UV-LIGA和微细电火花加工技术组合制作三维金属微结构的工艺方法。首先通过UV-LIGA制作二维金属微结构,再对该微结构进行微细电火花加工得到三维金属微结构。该方法具有加工精度高、可实现自由曲面三维金属微结构制作的优点。制作出了局部为梯形凸台和锥形凹槽三维微结构的镍模具。分析了微细电火花加工中放电参数对表面粗糙度的影响,通过减小放电电压和电容的方法降低了表面粗糙度。     

Basic study on pulse generator for micro-EDM

An RC pulse generator can easily generate a pulse on-time as short as a several dozen nanoseconds in micro-electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM), but its discharge frequency is low due to the time needed to charge the capacitor in micro-EDM, which has a strong negative effect on the pulse generator’s working efficiency. Therefore, a new transistor-type isopulse generator has been developed for micro-EDM in this research. Evaluation of the machining characteristics proved that the transistor-type isopulse generator is suitable for micro-EDM. The experimental results reveal that the transistor-type pulse train generator is unsuitable for micro-EDM due to its low removal rate: 80-ns and 30-ns pulse on-times of discharge current can be obtained by using the transistor-type isopulse generator developed in this research, and the removal rate of this generator is two or three times higher than that of the traditional RC pulse generator.     

A computer-aided design system for foot-feature-based shoe last customization

The micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) process has proved to be an appropriate nonconventional machining method for manufacturing accurate and complex three-dimensional structural micro-features which are difficult to be produced by conventional processes. However, the miniaturisation of the EDM process requests special requirements on the machining equipment. Pulse generators which can produce small input energy pulses and high precision systems are the two major requirements. In this paper, newly developed technologies regarding these aspects are explored with the aid of a commercial micro-EDM machine. By examining the pulses, innovative strategies implemented in the pulse generator are studied. Pulse measurements reveal the correlation between the discharge pulses and the machine parameters in order to provide an overview of process capability. Conclusions are applied on machining of a ceramic composite Si₃N₄-TiN and optimised machining settings for different machining conditions are achieved. Accordingly, applications of two- and three-dimensional micro-structures on different types of materials such as a stainless steel micro-compressor and a ceramic miniature gas turbine are demonstrated. By inspecting the machining geometry and surface integrity, process characteristics of micro-EDM are discussed.     

UV-LIGA和微细电火花加工技术组合制作三维金属微结构

为了制作三维金属微结构,研究了UV-LIGA和微细电火花加工技术组合的工艺方法。使用UV-LIGA技术制作了准三维金属微结构,然后,对该微结构进行微细电火花加工制作三维金属微结构。使用提出的方法制作出了局部为梯形凸台和锥形凹槽三维微结构的镍模具,给出了梯形凸台和锥形凹槽的尺寸。分析了微细电火花加工中放电参数对表面粗糙度的影响,在工作电压为65V,标称电容为100pF时得到了Ra为0.08μm的微细电火花加工表面。研究结果表明,使用该方法可实现三维金属微结构的制作;通过减小工作电压和标称电容的方法可降低微细电火花加工的表面粗糙度。     

Process planning and electrode wear compensation for 3D micro-EDM

This paper presents a novel multi-cut process planning method and a new electrode wear compensation method based on a machine vision system for three-dimensional (3D) micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM). Front wear and corner wear of tool electrode can be measured and compensated in a direct manner by the vision system??s image processing software capabilities. Experiments have shown that corner wear ratio (defined as a ratio between the length of corner wear and electrode diameter) is linearly proportional to machining length under a fixed machining depth condition. Track overlapping between the two adjoining paths is designed appropriately according to the corner wear ratio. Experimental results not only indicate that the proposed multi-cut process planning and electrode wear compensation methods can significantly improve machining accuracy and reduce machining time for the micro-EDM process, they also demonstrate that the X?CY dimensional errors of micro-structures can be controlled within 10???m.     

线切割与真空热扩散焊组合工艺制备微模具

采用线切割和真空压力热扩散焊组合工艺制备了高深宽比的三维微结构。分别研究了线切割与热扩散焊工艺并获得了较好的工艺参数用于制备微模具。首先,在脉冲宽度为10μs,脉冲间隔为40μs,线切割电流为0.28A,电压为60V的条件下,对100μm厚的铜箔进行线切割,获得了多层二维微结构。然后,在热扩散温度为850℃,热扩散时间为10h,压力为1.0μPa的工艺参数作用下,对多层铜箔二维微结构进行真空压力热扩散焊接,通过多层二维微结构的叠加形成微模具,并制备了六棱台微型腔模具及微型级联齿轮模具。实验结果表明:三维微模具表面形貌较好,制作结果较理想,与设计模型基本相符。最后,通过超声模压成型分别获得了二阶和三阶的塑料级联齿轮。这些微塑件质量良好,验证了该工艺方法的可行性。     

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE INFLUENCE OF MAJOR OPERATING PARAMETERS DURING MICRO-ELECTRO DISCHARGE DRILLING OF CEMENTED CARBIDE

Present study investigates the influence of major operating parameters on the performance of micro-EDM drilling of cemented carbide (WC-10wt%Co) and identifies the ideal values for improved performance. The operating parameters studied were electrode polarity, gap voltage, resistance, peak current, pulse duration, pulse interval, duty ratio, electrode rotational speed and EDM speed. The performance of micro-EDM drilling process was evaluated by machining time, material removal rate (MRR), relative electrode wear ratio (RWR), spark gap, surface finish and dimensional accuracy of micro-holes. It has been found that there are two major conflicting issues in the micro-EDM of carbide. If the primary objective is to obtain better surface finish, it can be obtained by the sacrifice of high machining time, low MRR and high RWR. However, for faster micro-EDM, the surface roughness is higher and electrode wear is again much higher. It is concluded that negative electrode polarity, gap voltage of 120 V, resistance of 33 Ω, peak current of 8 A, pulse duration of 21 μs, pulse interval of 30 μs, duty cycle of 0.47, electrode rotational speed of 700 rpm and EDM speed of 10 μm/s can be considered as ideal parameters to provide improved performances during the micro-EDM of WC-Co.     

In-situ process monitoring and adaptive control for precision micro-EDM cavity milling

The linear tool wear compensation method (LCM) is commonly applied in micro-EDM 3-D milling to compensate the tool length wear in order to achieve high machining accuracy. Traditional LCMs mainly rely on empirical models and off-line wear measurements, whereas the process dynamics are not taken into account. When machining complex 3D cavities, an increasing number of tool wear compensation cycles have usually to be performed in order to maintain the targeted machining accuracy. This negatively affects the duration of the overall machining cycle. To realize efficient precision micro-EDM cavity milling, without the necessity to predefine Z-axis tool feed in the NC trajectory before machining, an in-situ process control system is developed to adaptively control the tool wear compensation factor based on the discharge pulse behavior. Experiments have shown that the change of the compensation factor can be detected and also a continuous increase of the factor (over compensation) leads to the saturation of the mean effective pulse frequency. Pulse monitoring therefore provides valuable information for understanding the process dynamics and for selecting the machining parameters towards better machining efficiency. Furthermore, the information gathered in-situ can be utilized to predict the tool wear and perform in-situ tool wear prediction. To implement this on machine-level, a combined off-line and in-line adaptive control of the tool wear compensation factor is proposed and experimentally validated by milling different 3D cavities. The off-line adaptive control is only necessary when the predicted machining depth error exceeds a certain limit. In this way, more than 80% of the off-line adaptive control cycles can be eliminated, whereby a total save of cycle time up to 18% has been reached, while still maintaining the desired dimensional and form accuracy.     

Precision machining by discharge pulse counting methods in micro EDM processes

Due to the occurrences of debris, the ability of micro-EDM to produce precise dimension is degraded, hence positioning display indicator of micro-EDM machine is not accurately measure the real dimension. Therefore, imprecise workpiece dimension is happen. In order to overcome this problem, in this paper, the use of discharge pulse counting methods to correct this error is introduced. The dimension error from micro-EDM processes by using discharge pulse counting method is much smaller than when using the positioning display indicator of micro-EDM machine. Hence, by using discharge pulse counting method, high precision machining can be achieved.     

Experimental study on micro EDM-drilling of Ti6Al4V using helical electrode

There is a growing interest in the machining of micro-holes with high aspect-ratio in difficult-to-machine alloys for the aerospace industry. Processes based on electro discharge machining (EDM) and developed for the manufacture of both micro-electrode and micro-hole are actually used, but most of them involve micro-EDM machines. In this work, the influence of EDM parameters on material removal rate, electrode wear, machining time and micro-hole quality when machining Ti6Al4V is studied. Due to an inefficient removal of debris when increasing hole depth, a new strategy based on the use of helical-shaped electrodes has been proposed. The influence of helix angle and flute depth with respect to process performance has been addressed. Main results include 37% reduction in machining times (hole diameter 800 μm) when using electrode helix angle of 45° and flute-depth of 50 μm, and an additional 19% with flute-depth of 150 μm. Holes of 661 μm diameter and as much as 6.81 mm depth, which yields in aspect ratio of 10:1, have successfully been machined in Ti6Al4V.     

Micro-structuring of glass with features less than 100 μm by electrochemical discharge machining

Micro-electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) was studied in order to improve the machining of 3D micro-structures of glass. To minimize structures and obtain good surface microstructures, the effects of the electrolyte, the pulse on/off-time ratio, the voltage, the feedrate, the rotational speed, and the electrolyte concentration in the drilling and milling processes were studied.In ECDM, voltage is applied to generate a gas film and sparks on a tool electrode; however, high voltage produces poor machining resolution. To obtain a stable gas film over the whole surface of the tool at a low voltage, a new mechanical contact detector, based on a loadcell, was used; the immersion depth of the tool electrode in the electrolyte was reduced as much as possible. In this study, various micro-structures less than 100 μm in size, such as Ø 60 μm micro-holes, a 10 μm-thin wall, and a 3D micro-structure were fabricated to demonstrate the potential for micro-machining of glass by ECDM.     

Improvement of machining characteristics of micro-EDM using transistor type isopulse generator and servo feed control

This paper describes the improvement of machining characteristics of micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) using a newly developed transistor type isopulse generator and servo feed control. The RC generator is mainly applied in conventional micro-EDM even though the transistor type isopulse generator is generally more effective for obtaining higher removal rate, because the transistor type generator is unable to generate iso-duration discharge current pulses with small pulse duration (several dozen nano-seconds), which is the normal level for micro-EDM. A new transistor type isopulse generator was therefore developed using a current sensor with high frequency response. With the new transistor type isopulse generator developed, the pulse duration can be reduced to about 30 ns, which is equivalent to the pulse duration used in finishing by the conventional RC pulse generator for micro-EDM. In order to achieve stable machining and improve machining characteristics, a new servo feed control system for micro-EDM using average ignition delay time to monitor the gap distance was also developed. By integrating the transistor type isopulse generator with this new servo feed control system, we were able to obtain a removal rate of about 24 times higher than that of the conventional RC pulse generator with a constant feed rate in both semifinishing and finishing. The effectiveness of the servo feed control proved higher in finishing than in semifinishing, whereas the transistor type isopulse generator was more effective in semifinishing than in finishing.     

微细电火花加工用晶体管脉冲电源的研究

在传统晶体管脉冲电源的基础上，研制开发了一种适用于微细加工的晶体管脉冲电源，这种脉；中电源可以满足微细加工中粗加工、精加工的不同需要，可实现最小脉宽为50ns的放电电流。通过微细孔加工实验，对所开发的晶体管脉冲电源的加工特性与传统的RC脉冲电源进行了分析比较，实验结果表明前者的加工效率约为后者的2～6倍。     

飞秒激光切割与微细电阻滑焊组合制备三维金属微结构

提出了一种采用飞秒激光切割结合微细电阻滑焊制备3D金属微结构的工艺方法(微型化双工位金属箔叠层制造法,(Micro-DLOM)),并通过制备具有复杂形状的3D微型腔模具验证了该工艺方法的可行性。首先,以厚度为10μm的0Cr18Ni9不锈钢箔为基材,在110mW的飞秒激光功率、100μm/s的切割速度和0.75μm的切割补偿量下获得二维微结构,并分析了激光功率和切割速度对切割精度的影响;然后,利用微细电阻滑焊对多层二维微结构进行热扩散焊接,通过多层二维微结构的叠加拟合形成具有曲面特征的微型腔,并对焊接区进行了X射线衍射(XRD)分析。分析发现:微细电阻滑焊所产生的热量仅使焊接区主要物相的相对含量发生了变化,而没有使该区域产生新的物相。与UV-LIGA工艺相比,本工艺可以加工具有自由曲面特征的三维微结构,并且单层钢箔越薄,成形精度越高;与飞秒激光分层平面扫描烧蚀工艺相比,本工艺仅需切割每层二维结构的轮廓,提高了成形效率;与微细电火花加工工艺相比,虽然所成形的微型腔表面粗糙度相对较差,但却省去了制备微电极的工艺步骤,并且不存在微电极工作过程中的损耗问题,所以可以加工深宽比不受限制的微模具。     

微细电火花铣削影响加工精度的主要因素分析

通过微电火花铣削试验研究,优化电参数、小厚度分层加工等方法分析微小孔加工直线度和圆柱度误差。结果表明:空载电压110V,峰值电流为70A,脉冲宽度为4μs,脉冲间隔为90μs,分层厚度0.15mm,放电间隙0.012mm,微小孔铣削精度最高,其加工尺寸精度±0.005mm,表面粗糙度0.427μm。     

Fabrication of micro rods by twin-mirroring-wire tangential feed micro electrical discharge grinding

In micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM), the precision fabrication of cylindrical micro rods is difficult to achieve with a high processing efficiency. In order to overcome this challenge, this paper proposes a new processing method, which is denoted as twin-mirroring-wire tangential feed micro electrical discharge grinding (TMTF-WEDG). The machining principle, characteristics, and realization of the new method are firstly introduced. Then, the advantages of TMTF-WEDG in terms of machining efficiency and accuracy are demonstrated. The experimental results have shown that the machining efficiency can be increased to more than 70% in comparison with conventional tangential-feed wire electrical discharge grinding. It has also been proved that a minimum removal of material corresponding to a reduction of less than 1 μm in the diameter of a micro rod can be obtained by TMTF-WEDG. This considerably helps in improving the accuracy and repeatability of the machining process. A deviation of less than 1 μm on the diameter of a micro rod has been obtained in a length range of 800 μm. The process repeatability in machining five micro rods has been established to be below 2 μm. The proposed method is therefore of great significance for improving the machining efficiency and ensuring a high precision in the shaping process of cylindrical micro rods.     

An experimental study on micro-EDM in low-resistivity deionized water using short voltage pulses

Deionized water has been used as dielectric fluid for micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) because it gives higher material removal rate and lower tool wear than hydrocarbon oil. Moreover, it is a relatively low-cost and eco-friendly substance. Therefore, deionized water tends to be more favorable for micro-EDM. However, it causes weak electrochemical reaction during micro-EDM due to its slight conductivity. This leads to the unanticipated additional material removal from the workpiece which affects the machining shape and quality. The study in this paper aims to suppress the electrochemical reaction in die-sinking micro-EDM using deionized water by employing short voltage pulse. Experiments were carried out to fabricate micro-holes using the developed nanosecond pulse circuit. Different pulse parameters were applied to identify the main factor affecting the electrochemical reaction rate. Machining gap was found to be thinner and workpiece surface adjacent to the rim of micro-holes were found to be free of defects caused by material dissolution when pulse duration reached a critical value. Moreover, the influence of pulse parameters on material removal rate and machined shape was also investigated. Besides, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis showed that the machined surface using deionized water was less affected from material migration during micro-EDM process in comparison to hydrocarbon oil.     

Investigation of electro-discharge micro-machining of titanium super alloy

Being a difficult-to-cut material, titanium alloy suffers poor machinability for most cutting processes, especially the drilling of micro-holes using traditional machining methods. Although electrical discharge machining (EDM) is suitable for machining titanium alloys, selection of machining parameters for higher machining rate and accuracy is a challenging task in machining micro-holes. The present research attempts to optimize micro-EDM process parameters for machining Ti-6Al-4V super alloy. To verify the optimal micro-EDM process parameters settings, metal removal rate (MRR), tool-wear rate (TWR), over cut (OC) and taper were chosen as observed performance criteria. In addition, four independent parameters such as peak current, pulse-on time, flushing pressure, and duty ratio were adopted for evaluation by the Taguchi method. From the ANOVA and S/N ratio graph, the significant process parameters and the optimal combination level of machining parameters were obtained. It is seen that machining performances are affected mostly by the peak current and pulse-on time during micro-electro-discharge machining of titanium alloy. Mathematical models have been developed to establish the relationship between various significant process parameters and micro-EDM performance criteria. In-depth studies have also been made to examine the influence of various process parameters on the white layer and surface topography through SEM micrographs of machined micro-hole.     

Towards the effective tool wear control in micro-EDM milling

The electrode wear in micro-electrical discharge milling (micro-EDM milling) is one of the main problems to be solved in order to improve machining accuracy. This paper presents an investigation on wear and material removal in micro-EDM milling for selected process parameter combinations typical of rough and finish machining of micro-features in steel. The experiments were performed on state-of-the-art micro-EDM equipment. Based on discharge counting and volume measurements, electrode wear per discharge and material removal per discharge were measured for several energy levels. The influence of the accuracy of volume measurements on the electrode wear per discharge and on the material removal per discharge are discussed, and the issues limiting the applicability of real time wear sensing in micro-EDM milling are presented.     

基于热学仿真的微细电火花加工表面形貌预测

根据热传导基本理论和微细电火花加工的实际情况,建立起微细电火花加工的热传播模型.采用ANSYS分析软件,基于有限元方法对P+硅和45钢两种材料单脉冲放电情况的温度场进行了数值模拟,分析了微细电火花铣削加工中表面粗糙度与放电能量之间的关系.结果表明,微细电火花仿真能够很好地模拟放电凹坑的温度场分布,进而预测加工表面形貌.