In situ fabrication of a microwire electrode using dynamic liquid membrane electrochemical etching

Abstract

Wire electrochemical micromachining is a promising micromachining method of fabricating micro metal parts. Before conducting wire electrochemical micromachining, microwire electrode should be prepared. Existing microwire electrode preparation processes suffer from drawbacks such as inconvenience in remounting the fabricated electrode and losses of accuracy and efficiency as the electrode is moved for the subsequent wire electrochemical micromachining. Dynamic liquid membrane electrochemical etching of a microwire electrode is proposed here as a way to overcome these limitations by in situ fabrication of the electrode. A mathematical model is constructed to predict the diameter of the fabricated microwire electrode and experimental results are in good agreement with the model. An experimental setup is developed combining the functions of electrode fabrication and wire electrochemical micromachining. Microwire electrodes with the diameter of 14 μm have been prepared, and microslits with the width of 34 μm have been fabricated without the need to remount the electrode.