Experimental and Numerical Investigations on Fabrication of Surface Microstructures Using Mask Electrolyte Jet Machining and Duckbill Nozzle

Abstract

The consistency in the fabrication of microsurface structures on large workpieces remains a challenge for existing production techniques. Mask electrolyte jet machining (MEJM) is a hybrid mask-based electrochemical machining (ECM) process that combines the flexibility of Jet-ECM to flush the electrochemical by-products and the high throughput processing feature of through-mask electrochemical micromachining (TMEMM). In the present study, a duckbill-shaped nozzle is employed in the MEJM for the batch fabrication of microsurface structures which facilitates more uniform current density distribution over the entire machining area, resulting in better consistency. With a larger slit length, the duckbill nozzle will not only cover more processing area but also facilitates more uniform current density distribution over the entire machining area, resulting in a better consistency for batch fabrication. Thresholds of the ratio of slit length to the machining area were derived from a quantitative analysis, namely the efficient threshold and the performance threshold. The slit length of the duckbill nozzle should be at least twice as large as the machining area to wipe out any observable deviation on current density distribution in the machining area. An efficient and high-performance numerical simulation framework with a virtual gap concept is developed for the mask-based ECM processes to simulate microcavity profiles and associated current density distribution. The concept of a virtual gap is proposed to solve the simulation dilemma of elements being consumed in the mask-based ECM process. Quantitative analyses were carried out to study how the virtual gap influences the electric current density distribution in the interelectrode gap. A virtual gap smaller than 100 nm is recommended. Guidelines on how to ensure a smooth electric field transition across the coarse and fine-meshed zones are presented by conducting a quantitative analysis. As an example, this work has successfully fabricated several cavity arrays with different processing parameters. Both the experimental results and the numerical simulation frameworks are easy-to-implement and easy-to-extend for all the mask-based ECM processes.