Abstract
Spark assisted chemical engraving (SACE) has the advantages of less contact stress and little/no tool electrode wear, and it is expected to achieve damage-free processing on dielectric workpieces. The key factors of electrolyte depths and machining gaps play an important role in the SACE process, especially for a micro-SACE process. Currently, there is still no convenient method for forming a thin and stable electrolyte depth in a scanning process of micro-SACE, and the existing methods are difficult to specify a micron-level machining gap between a tool electrode and a workpiece. In order to solve these problems, a scanning process of micro-SACE based on the thin laminar flow electrolyte and the narrow machining gap was proposed. This research focuses on the experiments to obtain the controllable rules of a stable thin film of electrolyte for concentrating the processing energy and restricting the processing locality. A novel method of indirect electric contact was presented for measuring workpiece surface height and then precisely leveling the workpiece surface before the scanning process. A micro-feed contact method with CCD (charge coupled device) vision was used to give a narrow machining gap. In experiments, the leveling accuracy of workpiece surface can reach ± 0.1 μm/mm, and the adjusting resolution of micro-machining gaps can be down to a precise scale of ± 0.5 μm. As a result, a micro-structure of 1.2 × 1.2 mm with a depth removal resolution down to ~ 2 μm was achieved on the surface of ZrO2 workpiece with the flow layer electrolyte as thin as 165 ± 5 μm.
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This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51675302) and Independent Research Project of State Key Laboratory of Tribology of China (Grant No. SKLT2019B04).
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Pu, Y., Tong, H., Ji, B. et al. Scanning process of micro-spark assisted chemical engraving (SACE) based on thin laminar flow electrolytes and given narrow machining gaps. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 109, 893–903 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05705-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05705-z