In Situ: A Novel Approach for the Production of Micro Holes

Abstract:

This work is on the preparation of microelectrodes for μ-EDM operation using μ-WEDG process. Electrodes of Ø500 μm are fabricated with various discharge energy machining conditions. Effects of gap voltage, capacitance & feed rate on the surface finish of the electrodes and overcut of the thus produced micro holes are investigated. The profile of microelectrodes is measured using surface roughness tester with 2μm stylus interfaced with SURFPAK software. The study demonstrated that for brass electrodes an arithmetic average roughness value as low as 1.7μm and an overcut of 3 µm could be achieved. The significant machining parameters are found using ANOVA. Surface of the produced microelectrodes are examined using Scanning Electron Microscope. μ-WEDG process parameters could be adjusted to achieve good surface integrity on microelectrodes. Experimental results showed that the surface roughness of microelectrodes depended primarily on feed rate of the electrode. The observations showed the clear and quantitative correlation existing between the micrometer level surface quality and process parameters. The resulting microelectrodes are found to be of exceptionally high quality and could be used for μ- EDM operation on different types of work materials.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 126-128)
• Pages: 885-890
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.126-128.885
• Online since: August 2010
• Authors: K.P. Somashekhar, N. Ramachandran, Jose Mathew
• Keywords: Micro Wire Electric Discharge Grinding (µ-WEDG), Overcut, Surface Roughness (SR)

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