Effect of Nozzle Type and Abrasive on Machinablity in Micro Abrasive Air Jet Machining of Glass

Abstract

Micro abrasive jet machining (MAJM) is a high effective economical technology for three dimensional micro structure fabrications of brittle materials. It is widely used in the fabrication of semiconductors, electronic devices, micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), optical-electronic and optical devices, and medical instruments. In this paper, based on the experimental study of MAJM for glass, the influences of the nozzle type/size and abrasive type on the material erosion rate and structure profile are analyzed. The results show that the rectangular nozzle can yield a more accurate and efficient machining performance due to reduced flux effect. By contrast, with round nozzle all the cross section profiles of the machined patterns show rounded V-type shape. The rectangular nozzle is able to produce geometry with flat shape. The machining area is almost independent of the abrasive hardness, and the erosion rate increases with the increase in the hardness of the abrasive grits. The nozzle geometry is of great importance for machining accuracy and the efficiency.

Effect of Slurry and Nozzle on Hole Machining of Glass by Micro Abrasive Suspension Jets

“…Machining Process. The drilling process of MASJ is similar to that of micro abrasive blasting [7,8]. Through online observation of the glass drilling process, we found that the interaction between the jet stream and the glass surface have much more effect on the shape of machined holes.…”

Kerf Profile Characteristics in Abrasive Air Jet Micromachining

“…Afterwards, the speed remains steady for a while and then reduces. As the stand-off distance further increases, jet diffusion becomes more significant and eventually when at certain stand-off distance, the machining efficiency decreases [3,6]. It can also be noticed from the machined profiles that a low stand-off distance results in small taper angles.…”

“…Considerable research and development efforts have been made to study this micromachining process with a view to improve its cutting performance [2][3][4][5]. An understanding of the characteristics of profiles produced in AJM is important in order to control the shape of patterned microstructures [6][7][8]. However, the technology for micromachining using micro abrasive jet with air as the flow medium is still under development and its many aspects are yet to be fully understood.…”

Micro-grooving on quartz crystals by an abrasive air jet

“…Aluminium oxide particles with the nominal diameter of 27 mm were used. The density of the particles was 3.95 g/cm 3 and the hardness 14.1 GPa. Five process variables that have been found from previous studies [4,13,14,[23][24][25] to have a profound effect on the machining performance in AJM and AWJ machining were considered in the experiment, which included air pressure, jet impact angle, nozzle traverse speed, abrasive mass flowrate, and nozzle diameters.…”

“…Although their work involved a reasonable range of process parameters, due to the technology limitation at that time, the nozzle diameters used were relatively large. In a recent work by Fan et al [3], an experimental study was undertaken to understand the effects of particle material on the machinability of glass under different nozzle diameters. Other experimental studies have also been conducted, as have been reviewed by Fan et al [4] and Moridi et al [5].…”