Abstract

Micro electrical discharge machining in the milling configuration (µEDM milling) allows machining of complex microparts in a flexible way by controlling the erosion process along the 3D path of a thin cylindrical microtool. This technique is attracting growing interest for the processing of mesoscopic and/or high aspect ratio parts. A bottleneck in the development of this technology is the fabrication of thin diameter tools with large aspect ratios. In this paper, we introduce an innovative µEDM milling machine along with a machine entirely developed in our laboratory used to form microtools by electrochemical fabrication. The fabrication process is performed automatically according to a method derived from the technology originally developed for the fabrication of Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM) tips. Examples of fabricated tungsten microtools with 4 to 10 µm diameters over a 300 to 800 µm lengths are presented along with preliminary data about the machining of microfluidic channels in stainless steel and titanium.

Keywords: Electrical discharge machining, micromachining, microelectrode, micro EDM, electrochemistry, EDM, Microtool Fabrication, EDM Milling Machine