Through-Mask Electrochemical Micromachining with Reciprocating Foamed Cathode

A through-mask electrochemical micromachining process with a foamed cathode (foamed-cathode through-mask electrochemical micromachining (TMEMM)) has recently been proposed involving micro-scale surface microstructures with a high geometric consistency that are fabricated on the curved-surface workpiece. In this paper, to make the foamed-cathode TMEMM process more cost-efficient in the applications, significant modifications are made to this process and an upgraded version of the foamed-cathode TMEMM process is developed. In this modified process, the sandwich-like unit (including the foamed cathode, mask, and workpiece) is closely assembled by the magnetic field force instead of the conventionally-used mechanical force and is kept moving up-and-down inside the electrolyte, avoiding the use of the traditional pump-driven circulation for the electrode process. Experiments are carried out to evaluate the machining effect of this modified TMEMM for fabricating micro-dimples. The research results verify that this modified TMEMM process can produce highly uniform micro-dimples whose minimum CV (coefficient of variation) values in depth and in diameter are 5.4% and 1.9%, respectively, with smooth surfaces of the minimum Ra being 0.21–0.35 µm. These values are smaller than those previously reported. This results in the positive effects on the mass transfer driven by magnetohydrodynamic convection induced by the magnetic field within the interelectrode and the foamed electrode.