Proceedings of the
World Congress on Micro and Nano Manufacturing (WCMNM 2022 )
19–22 September 2022, Lueven, Belgium
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-5180-3_RP24-0029
Design of a Low Cost Micro-Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing Setup
1Micro & Precision Engineering Group, Manufacturing Processes and Systems (MaPS) Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven.
2Flanders Make, Belgium.
ABSTRACT
Electrochemical additive manufacturing (ECAM) is essentially the reverse of electrochemical machining (ECM), which deposits material through the principle of electrolysis. It differs from electroplating since ECAM is highly localized which allows to control the shape of the deposition to effectively manufacture a 2.5D-3D metal part and deposit metal coatings at desired locations. Unlike the popular laser additive manufacturing processes, ECAM generates minimal joule heating which preserves the material properties resulting in deposits without heat affected zones and low internal stresses. In this paper, the design of a low cost micro-ECAM (µECAM) setup is presented. It was developed to conduct experiments to study the effect of ECAM flow modes and process parameters before incorporating the compatible process approach on a multifunctional machine tool. A low cost setup is also needed for applications not involving submicrometric precision. A Prusa 3D printer was modified to perform the µECAM process. The setup uses a tool electrode suspended inside a plastic nozzle to locally deposit material from the electrolyte flowing through the nozzle. To accurately set the interelectrode gap (IEG) in the 30 µm to 120 µm range, a system of piezo-buzzers in combination with a linear motor is used which has an overall repeatability of 7 µm. The setup is controlled with a LabVIEW program using a custom built control board. The experimental results show this low cost setup can be used to accurately deposit features with high quality surface on a conductive substrate.
Keywords: Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing, Micro-Manufacturing.
1Micro & Precision Engineering Group, Manufacturing Processes and Systems (MaPS) Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven.
2Flanders Make, Belgium.
ABSTRACT
Electrochemical additive manufacturing (ECAM) is essentially the reverse of electrochemical machining (ECM), which deposits material through the principle of electrolysis. It differs from electroplating since ECAM is highly localized which allows to control the shape of the deposition to effectively manufacture a 2.5D-3D metal part and deposit metal coatings at desired locations. Unlike the popular laser additive manufacturing processes, ECAM generates minimal joule heating which preserves the material properties resulting in deposits without heat affected zones and low internal stresses. In this paper, the design of a low cost micro-ECAM (µECAM) setup is presented. It was developed to conduct experiments to study the effect of ECAM flow modes and process parameters before incorporating the compatible process approach on a multifunctional machine tool. A low cost setup is also needed for applications not involving submicrometric precision. A Prusa 3D printer was modified to perform the µECAM process. The setup uses a tool electrode suspended inside a plastic nozzle to locally deposit material from the electrolyte flowing through the nozzle. To accurately set the interelectrode gap (IEG) in the 30 µm to 120 µm range, a system of piezo-buzzers in combination with a linear motor is used which has an overall repeatability of 7 µm. The setup is controlled with a LabVIEW program using a custom built control board. The experimental results show this low cost setup can be used to accurately deposit features with high quality surface on a conductive substrate.
Keywords: Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing, Micro-Manufacturing.
