Simulation and Improvement of the Micro Abrasive Blasting Process

Micro abrasive blasting (MAB) is becoming an important machining technique for the fabrication of Micro Electro Mechanical systems. The process is based on the erosion of a mask-protected brittle substrate by an abrasive-laden air jet. Currently available blasting machines are relatively simple. However, to exploit this technique for applications of industrial interest a more efficient and controllable process is required. In this paper abrasive blasting is analysed by means of a set of models containing different sub-models for the particle beam, the material removal mechanism and the resulting blasting profile. A new line-shaped Laval nozzle has been developed, which is able to increase the particle velocity by 40% compared to a conventional round nozzle. The blasting-profile of this line-shaped nozzle is more uniform and the material removal rate is significantly higher compared to conventional nozzles, which in turn leads to higher achievable aspect ratios of the three-dimensional microstructures.