The present work discusses micro-texturing on flat and cylindrical surfaces using the electric-discharge micromachining (EDMM) process. The arrays of micro-dimples are generated on flat Ti-6Al-4V surfaces using a block–electric discharge grinding (block-EDG)–fabricated microtools of an average diameter of 148 µm and 105 µm. Large-area surface texturing on flat Ti-6Al-4V and aluminium surfaces are performed to analyse the variation in water contact angle with varying depths of dimples. Adopting the electric discharge–milling (ED-milling) strategy, micro-pillars of dimensions 242 µm × 166 µm × 50 µm are machined on flat Ti-6Al-4V surfaces. The EDMM process for non-flat surfaces, such as curved (internal and external), spherical and freeform surfaces, is receiving attention in various applications. Machining of the aforementioned surfaces using the EDMM process appears to be problematic, due to the continuous change in curvature, which results in the subsequent spark gap variation. In the present work, processing of cylindrical surfaces for micro-features generation, such as micro-dimple arrays, has been attempted. Arrays of micro-dimples are machined on copper and Ti-6Al-4V cylindrical surfaces. A precise indexing setup is fabricated to hold and index the workpiece at the desired angular positions. Unlike machining on flat surfaces, the relative dimensions of the tool and the workpiece’s curvature result in non-uniform wear at the tool’s end cross-section. Owing to this non-uniform wear of tool electrode caused by the curvature effect of the workpiece, the formation of a microscopic bump/spike is observed on the dimple’s bottom. The depth of the dimple up to which the entire bottom surface of the tool is not exposed to the sparks is defined as its critical depth. For a combination of a tool and a workpiece of diameters 500 µm and 5 mm, respectively, the critical depth of the dimple is found to be 12.53 µm. However, the critical depth increases with a decrease in workpiece diameter, provided the diameter of the tool is constant.
The present work consists of large-area surface texturing through die-sinking electrical discharge machining (EDM) using compound tool electrodes. The compound tools were machined through the wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The micro-textured surfaces incorporating array of nearly square/circular-shaped micro-dimples, rectangular micro-channels and square micro-pillars were analysed for their wetting properties. An increase in water contact angle (CA) indicated higher water repellence for textured surfaces with respect to the untextured ones. Further, improved frictional behaviour was elicited through tribological analysis via the ball-on-disc test, revealing a lower average coefficient of friction (CoF) compared to the untextured surface. The wear volume of textured surfaces (micro-channels and micro-pillars) exhibited a slightly higher value with respect to the untextured surface, which can be ascribed to the stress concentration from microfeatures. However, the micro-dimpled textured surface showed a relatively lower wear volume, presenting a suitable micro-texture for improved tribological characteristics.
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