Investigation into Electrochemical Micromachining Process during Micro-Channel Generation

Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) appears to be very promising as a future micromachining process due to higher machining rate, better precision and control, and wide range of materials that can be machined. The present article highlights the experimental study of EMM process parameters, i.e., pulse frequency, machining voltage, duty ratio, electrolyte concentration, and micro-tool feed-rate, and their influences on micromachining criteria such as material removal rate (MRR) and machining accuracy during micro-channel generation. Scanning type strategy is considered for the movement of micro-tool during micro-channel generation Experiments are planned based on response surface methodology (RSM) and conducted on the indigenously developed EMM system setup. Empirical mathematical models of various process parameters on MRR and machining accuracy in EMM process are developed through RSM. The validity of the models is tested through analysis of variance (ANOVA). Optimal values for multiobjective optimization of the process parameters have been found out as pulse frequency of 52.2818 kHz, machining voltage of 10.1033 V, duty ratio of 68.3890%, electrolyte concentration of 85.1515 g/l, and micro-tool feed-rate of 208.5860 mu m/sec for the maximum MRR and improved accuracy. Response surface plots for each response are analyzed. Condition of machined micro-channels is also analyzed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs. The developed models will be very useful to find out the optimal parametric setting to produce high accuracy micro-channels utilizing scanning movement strategy of micro-tool.