**Part 1**

**Manufacturing Technology** 

**1** 

*Austria* 

**Some Contributions at the Technology** 

The tendency to make progressively smaller and increasingly complex products is no longer an exclusive demand of the electronics industry. Many fields such as medicine, biomechanical technology, the automotive, and the aviation industries are searching for tools and methods to realize micro- and nanostructures in various materials. The microstructuring of very hard materials, like carbides or brittle-hard materials, pose a particularly major challenge for manufacturing technology in the near future. For these reasons the Institute for Production Engineering and Laser Technology (IFT) of the Vienna University of Technology is working in the field of electrochemical micromachining with ultra short voltage pulses (µPECM) in nanosecond duration. With the theoretical resolution of 10 nm, this technology enables high precision manufacturing. [Kock M.]. A question, which can illustrate the motivation to do this research work in this field, is: "Which parameters have to be set at a production machine and which framework conditions have to be managed to reach a desired result?" To answer this question for the materials nickel and steel (1.4301),

Basically, the term machining stands for the removal of material. Furthermore, micromachining is the production of very small scaled shapes and parts in the range of 100 µm – 0,1 µm. DIN 8580 is the classification of all manufacturing processes. Figure 1

Ablation is a non-mechanical separation of material. It can be divided into chemical, thermal and electrochemical methods. For example water jet cutting is not yet assigned to either ablation methods or to cutting methods. Electrochemical micromachining (ECM) uses electrochemical reactions to treat a metal work piece. These reactions are for example processes in an electrolyser or a battery. In electrolysers the chemical reaction is driven by an externally applied voltage, whereas in a battery a voltage is created by a chemical reaction. As depicted in figure 1, the group of electrochemical processes are assigned to

**1. Introduction** 

the IFT has done experimental work.

**2. Electrochemical micromachining** 

illustrates DIN 8590 for ablation, which is a part of DIN 8580.

**of Electrochemical Micromachining** 

 **with Ultra Short Voltage Pulses** 

 *Institute for Production Engineering and Laser Technology,* 

Richard Zemann, Philipp Walter Reiss, Paul Schörghofer and Friedrich Bleicher

*Vienna University of Technology,* 
