Micro electro discharge machining (Micro EDM) is a non-traditional processing technology with the special advantages
of low set-up cost and few cutting force in machining any conductive materials regardless of their hardness. As well
known, die-sinking EDM is unsuitable for machining the complex 3D micro cavity less than 1mm due to the high-priced
fabrication of 3D microelectrode itself and its serous wear during EDM process. In our former study, a servo scanning
3D micro-EDM (3D SSMEDM) method was put forward, and our experiments showed it was available to fabricate
complex 3D micro-cavities. In this study, in order to improve machining efficiency and consistency accuracy for array
3D micro-cavities, an array-servo-scanning 3D micro EDM (3D ASSMEDM) method is presented considering the
complementary advantages of the 3D SSMEDM and the array micro electrodes with simple cross-section. During 3D
ASSMEDM process, the array cavities designed by CAD / CAM system can be batch-manufactured by servo scanning
layer by layer using array-rod-like micro tool electrodes, and the axial wear of the array electrodes is compensated in real
time by keeping discharge gap. To verify the effectiveness of the 3D ASSMEDM, the array-triangle-micro cavities (side
length 630 μm) are batch-manufactured on P-doped silicon by applying the array-micro-electrodes with
square-cross-section fabricated by LIGA process. Our exploratory experiment shows that the 3D ASSMEDM provides a
feasible approach for the batch-manufacture of 3D array-micro-cavities of conductive materials.
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