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Fabrication of semicircular micro-grooves on Ti6Al4V by through-mask scanning electrochemical machining

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Abstract

Through-mask electrochemical machining is a promising technique for producing micro-grooves in difficult-to-process materials. In this study, we proposed manipulating the current density distribution in the processing area by optimizing the size and arrangement of elliptical through-holes in the mask, to tune the cross-sectional geometry of micro-grooves in an approximately semicircular shape, and to achieve stable processing of a dense multi-micro-grooves. A model was developed to investigate the dynamic forming process of micro-grooves. The effects of minor- and major-axis dimensions of the elliptical through-holes and the scanning speed of the integrated tool on the micro-groove profile were investigated by simulations and experiments. The experimental consequences point out that with the increases of major-axis length, the size of the groove is increased and the quality of the edge contour of the micro-grooves is improved. Approximate semicircular grooves with a radius of 50 μm were fabricated by optimizing parameters (voltage 30 V, scanning speed 50 μm/s, pulse duty cycle 10%) and using a mask of elliptical holes (major-axis length 230 μm, minor-axis length 75μm). To further improve the processing efficiency, the scanning speed can be increased to 100 μm/s when the pulse duty cycle is 20%. Finally, by optimizing the arrangement of elliptical holes in the insulation mask, dense multi-micro-grooves with a spacing of 320 μm and 160 μm were successfully fabricated on Ti6Al4V.

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Funding

This project was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK2022010), the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Guangdong Province (Grant No. U1601201), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Creative Research Groups (Grant No. 51921003).

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Author notes

  1. Guodong Miao and Shuai Ao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Precision and Micro-Manufacturing Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, People’s Republic of China

    Guodong Miao, Shuai Ao, Xiaolong Fang & Di Zhu

  2. School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolei Chen

  3. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolong Fang

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  1. Guodong Miao
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  4. Xiaolong Fang
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Contributions

Guodong Miao: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing - review and editing. Shuai Ao: investigation, data curation, validation. Xiaolei Chen: methodology. Xiaolong Fang: funding acquisition, resources, review and editing. Di Zhu: resources, review and editing.

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Correspondence to Xiaolong Fang.

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Miao, G., Ao, S., Chen, X. et al. Fabrication of semicircular micro-grooves on Ti6Al4V by through-mask scanning electrochemical machining. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 126, 3175–3192 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11325-0

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