Manufacturing of A micro probe using supersonic aided electrolysis process
📝 Abstract
In this paper, a practical micromachining technology was applied for the fabrication of a micro probe using a complex nontraditional machining process. A series process was combined to machine tungsten carbide rods from original dimension. The original dimension of tungsten carbide rods was 3mm ; the rods were ground to a fixed-dimension of 50 micrometers using precision grinding machine in first step. And then, the rod could be machined to a middle-dimension of 20 micrometers by electrolysis. A final desired micro dimension can be achieved using supersonic aided electrolysis. High-aspect-ratio of micro tungsten carbide rod was easily obtained by this process. Surface roughness of the sample with supersonic aided agitation was compared with that with no agitation in electrolysis. The machined surface of the sample is very smooth due to ionized particles of anode could be removed by supersonic aided agitation during electrolysis. Deep micro holes can also be achieved by the machined high-aspect-rati tungsten carbide rod using EDM process. A micro probe of a ball shape at the end was processed by proposed supersonic aided electrolysis machining process.
💡 Analysis
In this paper, a practical micromachining technology was applied for the fabrication of a micro probe using a complex nontraditional machining process. A series process was combined to machine tungsten carbide rods from original dimension. The original dimension of tungsten carbide rods was 3mm ; the rods were ground to a fixed-dimension of 50 micrometers using precision grinding machine in first step. And then, the rod could be machined to a middle-dimension of 20 micrometers by electrolysis. A final desired micro dimension can be achieved using supersonic aided electrolysis. High-aspect-ratio of micro tungsten carbide rod was easily obtained by this process. Surface roughness of the sample with supersonic aided agitation was compared with that with no agitation in electrolysis. The machined surface of the sample is very smooth due to ionized particles of anode could be removed by supersonic aided agitation during electrolysis. Deep micro holes can also be achieved by the machined high-aspect-rati tungsten carbide rod using EDM process. A micro probe of a ball shape at the end was processed by proposed supersonic aided electrolysis machining process.
📄 Content
9-11 April 2008 ©EDA Publishing/DTIP 2008
ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5 Manufacturing of A micro probe using supersonic aided electrolysis process
R.F. Shyu, Feng-Tsai Weng, and Chi-Ting Ho Institute of Mechanical and Electrical-mechanical Engineering National Formosa University, Taiwan 886-5-6315398 ftweng@nfu.edu.tw
Abstract-In this paper, a practical micromachining technology was applied for the fabrication of a micro probe using a complex nontraditional machining process. A series process was combined to machine tungsten carbide rods from original dimension. The original dimension of tungsten carbide rods was 3mm; the rods were ground to a fixed-dimension of 50µm using precision grinding machine in first step. And then, the rod could be machined to a middle-dimension of 20µm by electrolysis. A final desired micro dimension can be achieved using supersonic aided electrolysis. High-aspect-ratio of micro tungsten carbide rod was easily obtained by this process. Surface roughness of the sample with supersonic aided agitation was compared with that with no agitation in electrolysis. The machined surface of the sample is very smooth due to ionized particles of anode could be removed by supersonic aided agitation during electrolysis. Deep micro holes can also be achieved by the machined high-aspect-ratio tungsten carbide rod using EDM process. A micro probe of a ball shape at the end was processed by proposed supersonic aided electrolysis machining process.
Keywords: Micromachining, Micro probe, Electrode, Electrolysis, Supersonic.
I. INTRODUCTION
Micro-electrical-mechanical-system (MEMS) technology becomes important due to the growing electro-optical industry. The cost amount of products is very significant in the industry fields of semi-conductor, precision fabrication, optical, and biotechnology in recent years. Electrical discharge machining (EDM) process which can be used for micromachining usually uses graphite or a metal tool to generate high frequency sparks between electrode and the work piece in a dielectric fluid. A rapid methodology has been proposed to form 3D electrode using the electroplating of EDM [1]. However the machining time of the process is too long. Since wire electrical discharge grinding (WEDG) system was developed to process microelectrode [2], the potential micromachining in EDM process is noticed from then on. Researchers used the same idea of WEDG to machine a 4.3µm microelectrode with a aspect ratio of 10 [3]. The electrode can be used to drill micro hole in EDM process, and to machine the silicon wafer. However, the wear of tungsten carbide is large, the aspect-ratio is still low, and the bending of micro electrode can occasionally happen due to the machining stress. Copper can be etched by FeCl3 or CuCl2 enchant [4-6], and the thickness of the TiNi foil could be etched to about 10µm by a proper volume ratio of HF/HNO3/H2O etching solution [7]. Although chemical machining (CHM) can be used to machine a metal rod to a small size, but the surface of the work piece is uneven [8]. Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a well known for the non-traditional machining process. Electroplating, electro grinding, and electrolysis are all part of applications of ECM. Nano electrode of the tungsten with a tip of about 500–800 nm could be achieved by the anodic etching [9-10]. Although the result of experiment shows this process has capability to produce the nanometer scale electrode, but the aspect-ratio of the electrode is still not large enough, and their wire materials are too soft that can not be widely adapted in the industry. Applications of Supersonic aided machining combined with other machining processes, such as turning, milling [12], EDM [13], ECM, CHM, grinding, and polishing, can provides better performance, where the removal rate is higher, the cutting force and the tool wear are reduced [11], the tool life and the machined surface roughness are improved, better fluid diffusion and propagation can be obtained by the disturbance of the supersonic [14]. Tungsten carbide has the good stiffness and the heat resistance, and it can be machined to less than 10µm by precision grinding process. It can provide excellent electrode for the micro-EDM, but the aspect ratio is still not large enough. In this study, a composite processing technology includes precision grinding, super sonic agitation, and electrolysis were combined to process the tungsten carbide material. Tungsten carbide alloy rods of diameter 3.0 mm could be machined to the desired micro size by this process.
II. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENTS AND PROCEDURE
The electrolysis system for machining micro electrodes contained a D.C. power supply and a container for electrolyte. The power supply used in the experiment is a model CT-3032D, which has an output voltage of 0-30 volt, and an output current range of 20mA –2A. It is made in Taiwan
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