Metrological assessment of microtextured EDM electrodes generated by additive manufacturing and electroforming

Abstract

Surface engineering makes use of functional and aesthetic textures to meet different needs in the development of new products, with high-value enriched features. At present, the use of additive manufacturing is bringing many advantages in its integration into advanced hybrid manufacturing processes. The direct application of textures on 3D models is a viable, fast and sustainable solution in many of these technologies by reducing the consumption of resources in materials and energy, of the additional processes that have been commonly applied in these applications.One of the processes that allows texturization of materials with great hardness is sinker electro discharge machining. This process, although slow, allows to obtain textures in small dimensions with very high precision, difficult to achieve by conventional processes. However, one of the aspects that make it a slow and expensive process is the manufacture of electrodes, especially those with complex geometries.Therefore, work is being done to solve this aspect, combining the additive technology of stereolithography by mask (MSLA) and the electroforming process to generate micro-textured copper electrodes with some structured and bioinspired textures. The model parts are generated with the textures in MSLA, which are then metallized on the functional surfaces before being introduced into the electrolytic bath to generate the electroforms with the appropriate thickness. This work presents the results of the metrological assessment from he CAD modeling to the electroeroded part, including the generated model part and the electrode made from it. This work is being developed in the Integrated and Advanced Manufacturing research group of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and in collaboration with the Engineering and Materials and Manufacturing Technology research group of the University of Cadiz.