Fabrication of Microgrooves by Synchronous Hybrid Laser and Shaped Tube Electrochemical Milling

The fabrication of deep microgrooves has become an issue that needs to be addressed with the introduction of difficult-to-cut materials and ever-increasing stringent quality requirements. However, both laser machining and electrochemical machining could not fulfill the requirements of high machining efficiency and precision with good surface quality. In this paper, laser and shaped tube electrochemical milling (Laser-STEM) were initially employed to fabricate microgrooves. The mechanisms of the Laser-STEM process were studied theoretically and experimentally. With the developed experimental setup, the influences of laser power and voltage on the width, depth and bottom surface roughness of the fabricated microgrooves were studied. Results have shown a laser power of less than 6 W could enhance the electrochemical machining rate without forming a deep kerf at the bottom during Laser-STEM. The machining accuracy or localization of electrochemicals could be improved with laser assistance, whilst the laser with a high-power density would deteriorate the surface roughness of the bottom machining area. Experimental results have proved that both the machining efficiency and the machining precision can be enhanced by synchronous laser-assisted STEM, compared with that of pure electrochemical milling. The machining side gap was decreased by 62.5% while using a laser power of 6 W in Laser-STEM. The laser-assistance effects were beneficial to reduce the surface roughness of the microgrooves machined by Laser-STEM, with the proper voltage. A laser power of 3 W was preferred to obtain the smallest surface roughness value. Additionally, the machining efficiency of layer-by-layer Laser-STEM can be improved utilizing a constant layer thickness (CLT) mode, while fabricating microgrooves with a high aspect ratio. Finally, microgrooves with a width of 1.79 mm, a depth of 6.49 mm and a surface roughness of 2.5 μm were successfully fabricated.