Innovative process to make micro structures

The electrochemical micromilling (ECF) is a micro processing technology that opens up new perspectives for manufacturing solutions, especially when conventional metal machining methods come to their limits. For this technology, ECMTEC won the second price of the EuroMold AWARD at EuroMold 2008, a trade fair for moulding and tooling.

The ECF technology was invented and developed at the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft eight years ago. The electrochemical micromilling with ultra-short voltage pulses has now started to penetrate the market. But before launching this new technology a machine tool has been developed by the company ECMTEC, which, besides selling its ECF machines, also provides a job-shop service for micro processing.

The ECF technology removes material like other machining technologies do, too. But ECF dissolves the metal locally, using ultra-short voltage pulses. These pulses allow the removal of metal at very small portions. The process enables to make ultra-small structures in stainless steel, metals and alloys. Such micro structures can be holes, grooves, channels or refinished pre-machined structures.

The electrochemical micromilling does also use a rod-shaped tool similar to the conventional milling technique. This tool is guided along the programmed tool path. But there is no metal-cutting, because the metal is dissolved electrochemically. Because of the tool wear-free process, extremely thin tools, as small as a fraction of a human hair, can be used. The high precision of this technology results from a very small and constant working gap as well as from the tool wear-free principle.

ECMTEC GmbH
Thomas Gmelin
info@ecmtec.com
www.ecmtec.com