Basic research of wire electrochemical micro-machining

Wire electrochemical micro-machining (WEMM) is a new method of electrochemical micro-machining (EMM). WEMM overcomes the weakness of fabricating high-aspect-ration micro structure through combining with the idea of wire cutting. Based on electrochemical principle, the mechanism of nanosecond pulses WEMM was investigated, and the mathematical model of WEMM was founded, the demand of control system of WEMM was investigated, the hardware of the control system was founded using devices of virtual instruments, and the software of the system was designed based on Labwindows/CVI. Based on electrochemical etching principle, the micrometer scale wire electrode was online fabricated, the diameter of wire electrode was real-time monitored by precisely measuring the variation in resistance of the electrode, therefore it is possible that accomplish the fabrication of wire electrode and the following processes continuously in the same machining system. On experiment of WEMM, a series of high-aspectration micro structure and multi-microgrooves were fabricated. The research of the paper sets up a firm foundation for application of the new method of micro fabrication.