Multiphysics simulation and experimental investigation of microtool fabricated by EMM

ABSTRACT

Due to the continuous demand for miniature products, demand for microtool increases. Various conventional and non-conventional methods have been employed for the fabrication of microtool. In this paper, electrochemical micromachining (EMM) is used for the fabrication of microtool as it offers good accuracy, no heat generation, contactless process, no tool wear and good surface finish. The microtool of different shape and sizes are fabricated from Tungsten tool having initial diameter of 500 µm using the two different techniques. In the first technique, the tool is placed inside the pre-made hole in stainless steel (SS) plate and the effect of tool rotation is analyzed. In the second technique, the tool is kept adjacent to SS plate and the analysis is based on the interelectrode gap (IEG) during machining. COMSOL® Multiphysics software is used to create a 2D model to study the variation of current density distribution in the interelectrode gap. First technique with tool rotation results in conical microtool with good surface finish and second technique results in cylindrical microtool with diameter less than 100 µm. Simulation results are validated with the experimental results with an error below 15%.

KEYWORDS:

• Microtool
• electrochemical
• micromachining
• constant IEG
• comsol®
• multiphysics