Micromachining

Dr. Venkaiah N

"Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do."

~ Gerry Sikorski
 Introduction
In today’s high-tech engineering industries, the designer’s requirement for
the component are stringent, such as:
q Extraordinary properties of materials (say, high Strength, high heat
resistant, high hardness, corrosion resistant etc.)
q Complex 3D component (say, turbine blade)
q Miniature features (filters for food processing and textile industries having
a few tens of micrometer as hole size and thousands in numbers).
q Nano level surface finish on complex geometries which are impossible to
achieve by any traditional methods (say, thousands of turbulated cooling
holes in a turbine blade, making & finishing of microfluidic channels in the
electrically conducting and non-conducting materials (say, glass, quartz,
ceramics).
q Such features on a component can be achieved only through the
advanced manufacturing processes in general and advanced machining
and micro machining processes in particular.

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Size Comparisons

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 Why Miniaturization?
1.  Small systems can move or stop more quickly than larger systems due to low
mechanical inertia. They are thus ideal for precision movements and for
rapid actuation.
2.  Miniaturized systems encounter less thermal distortion and mechanical
vibration due to low mass.
3.  Miniaturized devices are particularly suited for biomedical and aerospace
applications due to their minute sizes.
4.  Small systems have higher dimensional stability at high temperature because
of low thermal expansion.
5.  Smaller size of the systems means less space requirements. This feature
allows the packaging of more functional components in a single device.
6.  Less material requirements in smaller systems mean low cost of production
and transportation.
7.  Being small, they can be mass-produced in batches.

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 PATTERN
Pattern OF HOLESDrilled
of Holes DRILLEDbyBY EBM
EBM
HOLE =0.006 mm (6 m);
PART OF A HELICOPTER HOLE=0.09 mm HOLES DENSITY = 4000/cm2 HOLES DENSITY = 200,000 / cm2 ;
TURBINE “ HOLES DRILLED WORKPIECE- S.S.;
BY EBM” THICKNESS = 0.12 mm; TIME= 2 s / HOLE
THICK = 0.2 MM; TIME = 10 S/HOLE

AFF MEDIA ACTS AS A SELF-DEFORMABLE STONE

Prof. V.K.Jain, Mechanical Engineering 5

30
Department, I.I.T. Kanpur
 Applications
Today, the demand for micro-components/microsystems
[microelectromechanical system (MEMS), micro-reactors, fuel cells,
micromechanical devices, and micro-medical components] is
continuously increasing.

Micro-components are extensively used in vehicles, aircraft,
telecommunication, IT industries, home appliances, medical
devices, and implants.

Currently, the field of miniature technologies is a fast-growing
market in a broad spectrum of applications.

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 Medical Applications
² Demand for micro-parts is consistently increasing in medical
applications because the human body has a limited capacity to
accommodate “foreign” devices. Therefore, the components of
various repair and pain-relief devices should be as small as
feasible.

² Physicians also look for devices that are less intrusive so that
there is low probability of infection, so as to promote faster
healing.

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 Aerospace and automobile
Applications
² Aerospace and automobile industries are at the forefront in
the application of microproducts.

² These industries are keen on introducing

•  micro-sensors,
•  complex fuel injection systems,
•  safety devices,
•  microfluidics for flow control, and
•  micro-actuators (micro-motors)

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 Electronics Industry
² The electronics industry is trying to go beyond the limits
imposed by lithographic circuit manufacturing techniques.

² Huge sums are invested in R&D to find alternative methods

for cramming more circuitry and memory elements into a
computer.

² Some researchers are attempting to create small machines

that may be introduced into the human body to carry out
repairs while others are trying to produce molecular-sized
computer memories.

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 Micro-fabrication
q  Fabrication of products deals with the making of machines,
structures by casting, forming, machining, welding and
assembling.

q  Fabrication can be classified into two main categories:

§  Macro fabrication – deals with fabrication of structures/parts/
products that are measurable and observable by naked eye (>= 1
mm)
§  Micro fabrication – deals with fabrication of structures/parts/
products that are not easily visible to naked eye and have
dimensions < 1 mm (1 micron <= dimension <= 999 microns)

q  There are various methods/ways by which micro fabrication

of products can be achieved.
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 METHODS OF MICRO FABRICATION

Material Metal forming

Material removal
deposition (etc)
Electro discharge Deposition Traditional material removal
(EDD) processes

Chemical vapor deposition Advanced material removal

(CVD) processes

Physical vapor deposition

(PVD)
Micro joining
Rapid prototyping/rapid Micro casting
tooling (RP/RT)
Etc.

LIGA

Electro chemical spark

deposition (ECSD)

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Prof. V.K. Jain Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering IIT Kanpur 14
 Material Removal Processes

Micro/nano machining Micro/nano finishing

Traditional machining processes Traditional finishing processes

Advanced machining processes Advanced finishing processes

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 Micro / nano finishing

traditional Advanced
Grinding AFM

Lapping MAF

Honing MRF

CMP

MRAFF

ELID

MFP

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 CLASSIFICATION Micromachining Methods BASED ON THE KIND OF ENERGY USED : MACHANICAL,
THERMOELECTRIC, ELECTROCHEMICAL & CHEMICAL, BIOCHEMICAL

Traditional Advanced

µ-turning Mechanical Thermal Chemical

µ-milling µ-AJM µ-EDM ECMM

µ-drilling µ-USM µ-EBM PCMM

µ-grinding µ-AWJM µ-LBM

AFM, MAF,
MRAFF, MFP
µ-PAM

HYBRID

µ-ECSM µ-ECG µ-EDG ELID, etc 21 14

BASED ON THE PROPERTIES OF WORK MATERIAL TO BE
MACHINED

APPLICABLE ONLY FOR ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING

MATERIALS : ECM, EDM, EBM.

APPLICABLE FOR BOTH ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING & NON -

CONDECTING MATERIALS: USM , AJM, LBM, ETC.

APPLICABLE FOR NON – MAGNETIC MATERIALS : MAF, MRF, ETC.

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY, REFLECTIVITY, ETC. ALSO PLAY AN

IMPORTANT ROLE IN SOME CASES: LBM

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Prof. V.K.Jain, Mechanical Engineering
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Department, I.I.T. Kanpur
 MICROMACHINING
MICROMACHINING
MICRO MACHINING
MICRO MACHINING

Removal of material at micron level

Removal of material at micron level

• Macro components but material removal is at micro / nano level

• Macro components but material removal is at micro / nano level
• Micro / nano components and material removal is at micro / nano level (Ex.
• Micro / nano components and material removal is at micro / nano level (Ex.
MEMS, NEMS)
MEMS, NEMS)

Unfortunately , the present day notion is

Unfortunately , the present day notion is

Machining of highly miniature components

Machining of highly miniature components
with miniature features. Literally it is NOT
with miniature features. Literally it is NOT
correct
correct

MORE CORRECT DEFINITION IS material removal is

MORE CORRECT DEFINITION
micro/nano IS material removal is
level
micro/nano level
WITH NO CONSTRAINT ON THE SIZE OF THE COMPONENT
Size: 2mm×2mm WITH NO CONSTRAINT ON THE SIZE OF THE COMPONENT
Size: 2mm×2mm 16
Prof. V.K. Jain Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering IIT Kanpur 24
Prof. V.K. Jain Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering IIT Kanpur 24
µ-EDM
EDM

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 Comparison
Parameter Macro EDM Micro EDM

Size of feature > 1 mm < 1 mm

MRR Higher Lower

Inter-electrode gap (IEG) About 1 mm Few μm

Power consumption High Low

Discharge voltage > 80 V 10 to 20 V

Size of the spark (crater) High small

Accuracy Low High

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µ-milling and µ-drilling

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 Applications

6.5 µm dia hole machined

on a 50 µm plate

µ-turbine in steel

2.5 µm wall separating a 12 µm slot

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 Applications
Microfluidic channels
(Stainless steel)

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 Challenges in Micromanufacturing
² Micro-features/parts can be produced in two ways:

1.  by modifying an existing machine (scaling down some units

to handle small parts) to handle a micro-manufacturing task
or
•  The factors that can be ignored in conventional machining suddenly
play a vital role in the quality of the miniaturized parts to be made.
Deformation of the workpiece and tool, inaccuracies in the machine
tool, vibration, temperature, tool offset, rigidity, and chip removal
are some of the important considerations in micro-manufacturing
because these factors have a significant influence on the ultimate
size of the component being produced.

2.  by developing a completely new machine tool specifically

for micro-manufacturing applications.
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 Challenges in Micromanufacturing
² Part handling and fixturing is a challenge for micro-components,
and hence special attention is necessary to ensure that the part
does not get damaged during this process.
•  Vacuum is more commonly used in the transportation and
holding of micro-parts.

² Furthermore, inspection and measurement are also difficult

because of the small dimensions of the products.
²  Conventional probes and gauges are often too large to be used for the
inspection of micro-parts.
²  Measuring systems must use air, light, or other noncontact scanning
methods to evaluate a part’s features or dimensions.
²  3D metrology for micro/nano-devices and features is becoming an
essential element of micro-manufacturing.
²  In view of the challenges associated with the handling and fixturing
of micro/nano-parts, online measurement is becoming a
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prerequisite for micro-manufacturing.