Research on conductive-material-filled electrodes for sidewall insulation performance in micro electrochemical machining

Guo-Dong Liu; Yu-Lan Zhu; Sheng-Gui Liu; Chao-Jiang Li

doi:10.1007/s40436-022-00429-7

Advances in Manufacturing ›› 2023, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (3) : 509 -522. DOI: 10.1007/s40436-022-00429-7

Article

Research on conductive-material-filled electrodes for sidewall insulation performance in micro electrochemical machining

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¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

² Beijing Key Lab of Precision/Ultra-precision Manufacturing Equipments and Control, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

^d mecjli@bit.edu.cn

Guo-Dong Liu is an assistant professor at the school of mechanical engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his Ph. D. from Tsinghua University in 2018. His research interests focus on the micro manufacturing technology and the electrochemical mechanism.

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Yu-Lan Zhu is a doctoral candidate at the department of mechanical engineering at Tsinghua University. She received her bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in 2018. His research interests focus on the micro electrochemical machining.

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Sheng-Gui Liu a doctoral candidate at the school of mechanical engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his master degree from China University of Petroleum in 2021. His research interests focus on the electrochemical polishing.

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Chao-Jiang Li is a professor at the school of mechanical engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2012. His research interests focus on the micro electric machining and ultra-precision cutting.

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Abstract

In micro electrochemical machining (ECM) processes, stray corrosion causes undesired metal dissolution and the deterioration of shape accuracy. Adopting a sidewall-insulated electrode is an effective approach to suppressing stray corrosion. Most sidewall-insulated electrodes are made of metal substrate and non-metallic thin films. Nevertheless, the thin-film insulating materials attached to a metal substrate are susceptible to damage in an electrolytic environment. This study presents a novel concept of the conductive-material-filled electrode for better sidewall-insulation performance. The micro-scale quartz tube serves as the insulating substrate. Commercially available conductive fillers including metal wire, molten metals, and silver powder are filled inside the working cathode of the quartz tube. Consequently, the metal-wire-filled electrode, molten-metal-filled electrode, and nano-powder-filled electrode are designed and fabricated. From the verification results of electrode toughness, material removal rate, and surface topography, the metal-wire-filled electrode and molten-metal-filled electrode exhibit the same performance as a traditional metal-based electrode and much better durability. By contrast, the nano-powder-filled electrode is unable to withstand long-term ECM processes because of the loss of cured powder particles. In ECM experiments, microstructures with steep sidewalls (taper angle <9.7°) were machined using the metal-wire-filled electrode and molten-metal-filled electrode, which could replace the traditional electrode, achieving a longer service life and superior sidewall-insulation performance.

Keywords

Electrochemical machining (ECM) / Conductive-material-filled electrode / Stray corrosion / Sidewall insulation / Quartz substrate

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Guo-Dong Liu,Yu-Lan Zhu,Sheng-Gui Liu,Chao-Jiang Li. Research on conductive-material-filled electrodes for sidewall insulation performance in micro electrochemical machining. Advances in Manufacturing, 2023, 11(3): 509-522 DOI:10.1007/s40436-022-00429-7