Research Article

Fabrication of array of micro circular impressions using different electrolytes by maskless electrochemical micromachining

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, Durgapur Institute of Advanced Technology and Management, Durgapur, India
² Manufacturing Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Guindy, India
³ Production Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

^* e-mail: sandip.sandip.kunar@gmail.com

Received: 31 January 2020
Accepted: 17 March 2020

Abstract

Maskless electrochemical micromachining (EMM) is a prominent technique for producing the array of micro circular impressions. A method for producing the array of micro circular impressions on stainless steel workpiece applying maskless electrochemical micromachining process is presented. The experimental setup consists of maskless EMM cell, electrode holding devices, electrical connections of electrodes and constricted vertical cross flow electrolyte system to carry out the experimental investigation. One non-conductive masked patterned tool can produce more than twenty six textured samples with high quality. A mathematical model is developed to estimate theoretically the radial overcut and machining depth of the generated array of micro circular impressions by this process and corroborate the experimental results. This study provides an elementary perceptive about maskless EMM process based on the effects of EMM process variables i.e. pulse frequency and duty ratio on surface characteristics including overcut and machining depth for NaCl, NaNO₃ and NaNO₃ + NaCl electrolytes. From the experimental investigation, it is observed that the combined effect of lower duty ratio and higher frequency generates the best array of micro circular impressions using the mixed electrolyte of NaNO₃ + NaCl with mean radial overcut of 23.31 µm and mean machining depth of 14.1 µm.