doi:10.3850/978-981-08-6555-9_182

ABSTRACT

Microproduction is one of the fastest growing fields of industry with increasing demands from the market. A key factor in microproduction is micro-tooling. There are various micro-tooling techniques, such as LIGA, electroplating, etc., which are very accurate but on the other hand also very expensive and time consuming. An alternative process chain is applied consisting of producing the electrode for Die-Sinking Micro Electrical Discharge Machining (MEDM) by Water Jet (WJ) technology, which can not compete with above-mentioned technologies regarding the accuracy, but it is time efficient and cost effective. The final tool is to be used for replication processes and is produced by MEDM. The results present the process chain in view of repeatability and limitations of producing micro-channel structures through statistical analysis. The analysis shows good repeatability of WJ machined features on the MEDM electrode which indicates the appropriateness of the chosen machining process. Due to the specific characteristics of involved technologies the smallest channel width is limited to 100 µm.

Keywords: Micro-tooling, Water Jet Machining, Micro-EDM, Process chain, Microfluidics.

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