Electrochemical micromachining: An Introduction

Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a relatively new technique, only being introduced as a commercial technique within the last 70 years (1). A lot of research was conducted in the 1960s and 1970s but research on electrical discharge machining (EDM) around the same time slowed ECM research (2). The main influence for the development of ECM came from the aerospace industry where very hard alloys were required to be machined without leaving a defective layer in order to produce a component which would behave reliably (3). ECM was primarily used for the production of gas turbine blades (2) or to machine materials into complex shapes that would be difficult to machine using conventional machining methods (4). Tool wear is high and the metal removal rate is slow when machining hard materials with conventional machining methods such as milling. This increases the cost of the machining process overall and this method creates a defective layer on the machined surface (3). Whereas with ECM there is virtually no tool wear even when machining hard materials and it does not leave a defective layer on the machined surface. This paper reviews the application of electrochemical machining with regards to micro-manufacturing and present state of the art micro ECM considering different machined materials, electrolytes and conditions used.The research reported in this article was supported by the European Commission within the project ‘Minimizing Defects in Micro-Manufacturing Applications (MIDEMMA)’ (FP7-2011-NMP-ICT-FoF-285614)