CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 181184

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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Micro electrochemical machining for complex internal micro features

Chan Hee Jo a, Bo Hyun Kim b, Chong Nam Chu (2)a,*
a
b

School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
School of Mechanical Engineering, Andong National University, Andong, Republic of Korea

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Keywords:
Electrochemical machining (ECM)
Micromachining
Internal feature

In this paper, the application of micro electrochemical machining (ECM) for the micromachining of
internal features is investigated. By controlling pulse conditions and machining time, micro features are
machined on the side wall of a micro hole. These methods can easily machine a micro hole with larger
internal diameters than the entrance diameter, which is very difcult to do by the conventional
processes. A micro disk-shaped electrode with an insulating layer on its surface is also introduced to
machine microgrooves inside the hole. This method is similar to the turning lathe process. The purpose of
this study was to conrm the various possibilities of making complex internal structures in a micro hole
by micro ECM.
2009 CIRP.

1. Introduction
Micro holes are the most basic products of micro machining,
and are widely used in many applications, including micro nozzles,
bio-medical lters, and micro dies. The fabrication of simple micro
holes is relatively easy, and utilizes many machining technologies,
such as mechanical drilling, lasers, punching, and electrical
discharging machining (EDM) [1]. Recently, however, the demand
for micro holes with 3D shapes rather than simple cylindrical holes
has increased. If the hole contains some micro features, or the
holes shape is a reverse taper in which the internal size of the hole
is larger than its opening, fabrication becomes difcult because of
problems not only from the tool fabrication, but from the processes
themselves [2]. Several studies have been conducted on internal
structures such as reverse-tapered holes and grooves in a micro
hole produced by using a customized tool electrode, in micro-EDM
[2,3]. However, the tool electrode is not reusable because it is worn
out during EDM.
Since electrochemical machining (ECM) is a conductive
materials removal process based on the electrochemical reaction
of anode metals, tool wear is negligible [410]. Therefore, even a
micro tool of complex shape can be reused. Since the working gap
varies with pulse voltage or pulse duration, various hole shapes can
be obtained with a single tool.
2. Tool electrode insulation
Usually, in micro ECM drilling using a cylindrical tool electrode,
a micro hole with a taper shape is obtained. This is because the
dissolution occurs not only on the bottom of the tool, but on
the side of the tool as well. During drilling, dissolution time at the
entrance to the hole is much longer than that at the exit. Since the

* Corresponding author.
0007-8506/$ see front matter 2009 CIRP.
doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2009.03.072

machining gap increases with the machining time in ECM, a

tapering side wall will result. In order to control the hole shape
precisely, or to make internal features within the micro hole, the
side dissolution should be prevented. For this purpose, in this
study, insulation on the side of the electrode was used. When the
side of the tool electrode is coated with an insulator, potential is
charged only in the double layer of the tool bottom, which is not
covered with the insulator. Therefore, dissolution does not occur
along the tools side, and tapering is thereby prevented. Moreover,
since dissolution is restricted only to the bottom of the tool, the
dissolution rate is not affected by the immersion depth of the tool,
while the machining rate is kept constant [11]. In ECM drilling with
un-insulated tools, as the tool electrode moves downward, the area
of the electrodeelectrolyte interface increases. Consequently, as
the immersion area increases, the rising time of the double layer
increases, and the dissolution rate (that is, the machining rate)
gradually decreases.
To utilize insulated electrodes for micro ECM, insulation
material satises some indispensable requisites. First, it should
be adhered well onto the surface of the tool electrode, which is
usually made from metals. Since acid electrolytes are used in ECM,
the insulation material must be resistant to the acid. To satisfy the
above requisites, polystyrene as an adhesive and a tetrahydrofuran
(THF) as a solvent are utilized. In addition, a pigment is added to aid
visualization. Fig. 1 shows an SEM image of a section of the
insulated electrode. The insulation thickness is about 3 mm.
3. Reverse taper
3.1. Characteristics of pulse on-time and machining gap
The primary factors considered for taper machining are a
minimum machining gap, a proper machining speed. In ECM, the
pulse condition, tool size, concentration of electrolytes, and so on,
determine the machining gap [8,11]. The pulse condition is one of

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Fig. 3. Diameter and machining gap according to pulse duration.

Fig. 1. Sectional images of insulated tool electrode (tool: 34 mm, insulation layer:
3 mm).

the machining parameters that can be controlled during machining. In this experiment, only the pulse on-time is changed to
achieve various diameters of micro holes.
To estimate the machining gap, as shown in Fig. 2, micro
holes with 20 mm depth were machined by using a 35 mm
insulated electrode, and the hole sizes were measured. The
feedrate was 0.1 mm/s. The period of pulse was 1 ms, and the
applied pulse duration was 30 ns to 160 ns. Fig. 3 shows the
relationship between the pulse on-time and the machining gap.
The gure shows that the machining gap increases as the pulse
on-time increases. Consequently, an increase in the machining
gap offers the possibility of making a reverse-tapered hole by
controlling the pulse duration. However, when the pulse ontime was longer than specic duration (160 ns for this
experiment), the machined surface was rough, as seen in
Fig. 2(d).

Fig. 4. Reverse-tapered hole: (a) cross-sectional view, (b) hole entrance, (c)
isometric view, (d) hole exit (tool 35 mm, pulse amplitude: 6 V, pulse on-time
increased from 30 ns to 150 ns).

3.2. Reverse-tapered hole

As the pulse on-time increases during machining, the machining gap increases. The use of an insulated electrode restricts the
dissolution that occurs on the side of the electrode. As a result, if
the pulse on-time increases during drilling, the machining gap
increases at the bottom of the tool electrode, but the gap in the hole
entrance does not increase. Therefore, a hole whose size becomes
larger as the depth increases can be fabricated by this method.

Fig. 2. SEM images of pit according to pulse duration: (a) 30 ns, (b) 90 ns, (c) 120 ns,
(d) 160 ns.

Fig. 4 shows a reverse-tapered hole, which was machined using

an insulated tool electrode. The applied amplitude of pulse was 6 V,
and pulse on-time was increased from 30 ns for the hole entrance
to 150 ns for the hole exit. The workpiece was a 50 mm thick
stainless steel plate. When the 35 mm insulated cylindrical
electrode was used, the diameter of the entrance and exit were
45 mm and 63 mm, respectively.
Similarly, a barrel-shaped hole can also be fabricated by
controlling the pulse duration, as shown in Fig. 5. The pulse
duration was increased, at a constant rate, from 30 ns to 150 ns for
the middle section of the hole, and decreased from 150 ns to 30 ns
in the rest of the hole. The applied pulses amplitude was 6 V. These
results show that tool insulation and pulse control can make micro
holes of various shapes.

Fig. 5. Barrel-shaped hole (tool 35 mm, pulse amplitude: 6 V, variable pulse ontime).

C.H. Jo et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 181184

Fig. 6. Hole diameter and machining gap according to stationary time.

183

Fig. 8. Machining processes of disk electrode: (a) cylindrical electrode by WEDG, (b)
disk electrode by EDM with plate electrode.

3.3. Spherical cavity

The machining gap can be controlled not only by changing the
pulse duration, but also by changing the dissolution time. Fig. 6
shows that the machining gap increases with increasing dissolution
time. The control of dissolution time is used to make spherical
cavities, as shown in Fig. 7. To make these cavities, an insulated tool
electrode is moved downward to make a cylindrical hole of a few
tens of micrometers in depth (30 ns pulse on-time). Then, the tool
electrode was kept at this position for several minutes, with a long
pulse on-time of 150 ns. In Fig. 7(a), the stationary time was 5 min
and the diameter of the cavity was 58 mm. In Fig. 7(b), the stationary
time was 20 min and the diameter of the cavity was 75 mm.
4. The fabrication of microgrooves in the micro hole
4.1. Fabrication of disk electrode
To make micro features in a micro hole, a customized tool
electrode such as a disk shape tool is needed. Wire electrical
discharging grinding (WEDG) is commonly utilized to make a
microelectrode. However, since WEDG uses wire as a tool, it is not
easy to make a disk with a shaped edge. Thus, EDM with a plate
electrode is used here to achieve a disk shape [2,8]. The process of
disk electrode fabrication is shown in Fig. 8. After making a micro
shaft using WEDG, the plate electrode was horizontally moved to
the rod, and the disk shape was machined. A stainless steel plate of
300 mm thickness was used as the plate electrode.
4.2. Fabrication of micro grooves
ECM with a disk electrode can produce an internal groove in the
micro-structure because the ECM transcribes the shape of the
electrode. The groove-machining process in the micro hole is shown
in Fig. 9. The sequences are divided into drilling and grooving. The
rst step of the process is to drill a hole in the workpiece. Then, the
tool electrode is moved to the middle of the hole, and the electrode

Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of a groove made in the micro hole by using a disk
electrode: (a) drilling, (b) eccentric layer-by-layer rotation for grooving.

eccentrically rotated. The distance between the axis of rotation and

the axis of the hole is increased step-by-step to dissolve the surface
layer-by-layer. A relatively long pulse on-time is used for drilling,
and a short pulse on-time is used for grooving, because the material
removal rate for drilling is higher than it is for grooving. The internal
groove in the hole was fabricated as shown in Fig. 10. The dimensions
of the groove were 30 mm deep and 33 mm high, and the diameter of
the hole was 130 mm.
A repeatable structure such as an array can be fabricated using
one electrode, since there is no tool wear during ECM. This is the
biggest advantage of ECM. Therefore, groove array can be
manufactured with a single disk electrode in one micro hole.
Fig. 11 shows the sectional image of the groove array in the micro

Fig. 7. Micro cavity machined by controlling dissolution time: (a) 5 min, (b) 20 min.

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C.H. Jo et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 181184

Fig. 10. Groove in the micro hole.

Fig. 11. Groove array in the micro hole.

hole. The diameter of the hole is 130 mm. The depth and height of
the groove are 30 mm and 33 mm, respectively.
5. Conclusion
In ECM, the machining gap can be controlled by increasing or
decreasing pulse on-time, pulse voltage, or machining time. By using
this method, it is possible to control the diameter of the hole during
drilling and to make the holes entrance size smaller than the inside.
In this paper, reverse-tapered and barrel-shaped holes were
fabricated. In order to prevent over-dissolution during the machining, the use of insulation on the electrode was suggested. To make an
internal groove in the micro hole, a disk electrode was used. A groove
array can also be fabricated, because there is no tool wear during ECM.
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