Study on Micro-ECM with Short Pulses

Electrochemical machining (ECM) has the advantage that it can quickly produce mirrorlike surfaces without causing any additional damage and stress on the workpiece surface. However, it has a limit in machining accuracy in the machining of microshapes. In this study, short current pulses of microsecond order are introduced to achieve selective dissolution and their effectiveness on the precision of machining is experimentally investigated. The differences among various electrode materials are also tested in terms of durability and machining accuracy, changing machining gap and pulse duration. As a result, it was found that titanium is a suitable material for the electrode for micro-ECM. The condition of 20 μs pulses and a 5 μm machining gap could achieve the machining of 5-μm- deep micropatterns of 50/50 μm line/space into stainless steel.