AN ULTRASONIC MICROMACHINING APPROACH FOR FABRICATION OF MICROMOULDS

Abstract

Micro moulding is a promising and spreading technology to reproduce micro components in large production. Limited manufacturing techniques (as LIGA and wire EDM) are available which are being used for the fabrication of micromoulds. But the cost of LIGA is very high and wire EDM is limited to conductive materials only. Ultrasonic micromachining is a promising process used to machine all types of hard and brittle materials. In the current investigation an ultrasonic micromachining approach is used to fabricate micromoulds on borosilicate glass. In order to achieve this goal, the tool geometry was selected by conducted a comparative study on tool with grove and without grove. The one factor at time approach is applied for experimentation while selecting the best tool geometry. Further, Taguchi’s L18 orthogonal array is selected to investigate the effect of process parameters on the quality characteristics of ultrasonic micromachining. Furthermore, analysis of variance was employed to obtain the significant effect of the process parameters. In the last section of the study, the parameters are optimized to get the desired output. The goal was higher is better for material removal rate and depth of channel and lower is better for width overcut respectively. The results obtained in this investigation revealed that tool with helical grove helped the abrasives to move easily from the machining zone. Ultrasonic micromachining is proved as a promising technique for the fabrication of micromoulds