ABSTRACT
The need for micro-fabrication techniques has significantly increased in today’s manufacturing industries which include automobiles, aerospace, electronics, healthcare implants, biomedicine, AI, MEMS, etc. With advantages like small, lightweight, stability, functionality, and good performance of versatile micro-products make, it has wide applications almost in all areas globally. Many innovative hybrid manufacturing techniques are used in various industries to produce complex shapes with very good accuracy. The authors in this chapter designed a hybrid machining setup called wire electric discharge grinding (WEDG) to study the various micro-machining process parameters for hard materials like tungsten and HSS materials. WEDG provides high geometrical flexibility such that micro-parts with high aspect ratios can be manufactured. To enhance the manufacturing process, micro-components such as microelectrodes, micro-tools, and micro-probes were manufactured by the WEDG process. Furthermore, modeling and optimization techniques were investigated to obtain the best combination of machining process parameters to achieve optimal material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (Ra), and diameter accuracy. Confirmation tests have been performed, and a maximum deviation of 1.5% was observed. A 174maximum of 400 µm was achieved with this process, which is difficult to achieve in the conventional machining process.
