Electrochemical micromachining studies on nitinol and aisi 304 stainless steel

Abstract

Miniaturization of the intricate design in the products and their advanced machining systems (e.g., Micro/Nano-scale processing machines) are of increasing demand in today s world. Micro and Nano products are easily viable and are used as resources by humans. This increased use of the micro and nano components in the application fields such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, optic devices and medical industries led to focus on making more of these products. newlineA promising mass production method for nano/micro/meso-scale components is Electrochemical Micromachining (ECMM). ECMM process is a unique, commercially successful modern machining process well-thought-of as the phenomenon of conventional electrochemical machining (ECM) system in micro-scale, which is used in various industries for manufacturing products with micro and nano features. ECMM process works on the principle of Faraday s laws of electrolysis. It is a subtractive kind of machining process quantitatively measured based on geometrical features, surface finish and Material Removal Rate (MRR). The use of ECMM process type of unconventional machining techniques produces more sludges and particle contamination. In the ECMM process, it is more challenging to attain the required quality in the machined parts consistently with the improper selection of levels of the various process parameters involved. It is also seen that the full potential of the ECMM process is not utilized due to insufficient information on optimum operating parameters. However, the geometrical features and machining characteristics should also be considered. newline