Micro-EDM is a slow process as compared to laser machining, on the contrary laser machining lacks good surface quality. To overcome the drawbacks of both these processes, this paper suggests a hybrid machining process which combines laser and micro-EDM processes for drilling micro-holes in advanced engineering materials such as Nickel-Titanium (Ni-Ti) based shape memory alloy. To achieve the objective of the suggested hybrid process, pilot holes are drilled with laser machine and rimmed out by micro-EDM drilling. The suggested process requires investigation of various combinations of micro-EDM drilling process conditions to obtain optimum machining parameters for the hybrid process. It has been found that the proposed hybrid machining process resulted in 50-65% reduction in machining time without affecting the quality of micro-holes as compared to the standard micro-EDM process.

No abstract

This present study intends to investigate the feasibility of drilling deep microholes in difficult-to-cut tungsten carbide by means of low frequency workpiece vibration-assisted micro–electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM). A vibration device has been designed and developed in which the workpiece is subjected to vibration of up to a frequency of 1 kHz and an amplitude of 2.5 μm. An analytical approach is presented to explain the mechanism of workpiece vibration-assisted micro-EDM and how workpiece vibration improves the performance of micro-EDM drilling. The reasons for improving the overall flushing conditions are explained in terms of the behavior of debris in a vibrating workpiece, change in gap distance, and dielectric fluid pressure in the gap during vibration-assisted micro-EDM. In addition, the effects of vibration frequency, amplitude, and electrical parameters on the machining performance, as well as surface quality and accuracy of the microholes have been investigated. It has been found that the overall machining performance improves considerably with significant reduction of machining time, increase in MRR, and decrease in EWR. The improved flushing conditions, increased discharge ratio, and reduced percentage of ineffective pulses are found to be the contributing factors for improved performance of the vibration-assisted micro-EDM of tungsten carbide.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) forests are known to be among the darkest materials on earth. They can absorb the entire visible range of electromagnetic wave more efficiently than any other known black material. We have attempted controlled mechanical processing of the CNTs and, surprisingly, observed mirror-like reflection from the processed area with 10%-15% reflectivity, a level higher than typical reflectivity of pure forests by over two orders of magnitude, for a wide range of the spectrum (570-1100 nm). Patterning of micro mirrors in the forest is demonstrated to show its potential application for producing monolithically integrated reflector-absorber arrays in the material. V

No abstract