Electric Field Driving Micro-scale 3D Printing Mask Electrochemical Machining Microstructure

A new method of electric field-driven microscale 3D printing mask and cathode vibration pulse electrolytic processing was proposed to address the issues of complex mask microfabrication process and poor microstructure processing accuracy. This method can fully utilize the benefits of high resolution and flexibility of microscale 3D printing to achieve the accurate printing of micron-level masks of PLA material, combining with the electrolytic processing and cathode vibration pulse, the method produced successful processing outcomes. The current density distribution and microgroove profile formation law with dynamic changes of processing gap are simulated and studied using a cathodic vibration and pulse synchronous electrolytic processing model. A number of experiments are conducted to analyze the influence of the micro 3D printing in masking process, the main process parameters on the microgroove profile, processing accuracy, and the amount of etching in the depth and width of the microgroove. Using the optimized process parameters, a planar coil micro-groove structure with an average depth and width of 42.66 μm and 218.72 μm is successfully obtained on 304 stainless steel materials. The standard deviations are 1.23 μm and 4.66 μm respectively, as well as surface roughness ranging from 0.758 to 0.881 μm. Moreover, a planar coil micro-seam structure with an average width of 236.48 μm and a difference of 9.14 μm between the entrance and exit has been obtained on stainless steel sheet with 50 μm thickness. Results show that the machined samples with good processing consistency and high cross-sectional accuracy, which proposed a processing solution for the electrolytic processing of microstructures. © 2024 Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society. All rights reserved.