Experimental investigation of micro wire electrochemical discharge machining by using a rotating helical tool

The wire electrochemical discharge machining (WECDM) process is an effective way to machine high aspect ratio of micro-structures on non-conductive, hard, and brittle materials like quartz glass and ceramics. In this paper, the newly developed micro WECDM by using a rotary helical tool is proposed. Many experiments are conducted to investigate the machining localization of the WECDM with a rotating helical tool. The present study discusses the effects of machining parameters like applied voltage, frequency, duty factor, spindle speed, and feed rate on the side gap during the slicing of glass workpiece by using the developed WECDM setup. Experimental results demonstrates that the side gap rises with the increase in applied voltage and duty factor and reduces with the rise in frequency, spindle speed, and feed rate. Series of kerfs with 138 mu m width are fabricated successfully by the optimized parameters. The complex closed structure, the high aspect ratio kerf, and the pattern structure with high aspect ratio are obtained by this method. (C) 2017 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.