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A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D：Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 38638

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Prof. Dr. Jining Sun

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
Interests: FIB micro- and nano-machining; micro-grinding; numerical simulation; applications of micro/nano machining in smart surfaces; photonics and quantum sciences
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Prof. Dr. Yukui Cai

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of MOE/Key National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Interests: functional surface design and manufacture; laser ablation process; hybrid laser ablation and chemical process; micro-nano precision manufacturing
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Prof. Dr. Xichun Luo

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Guest Editor

Centre for Precision Manufacturing, Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XJ, UK
Interests: ultra-precision machining; hybrid micromachining; nanofabrication; digital manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Micromachining is a group of advanced technologies that enables microcomponents and/or microstructures to be fabricated with at least one dimension lying in the microscale. It has long been recognized as a powerful tool for high-value manufacturing and has been widely applied across different industrial sectors.

The key of micromachining is about precision. With the rapid development of ultraprecision technologies, the accuracy of micromachining is expanding into the nanometre regime, aiming towards near atomic level. Ultraprecision technologies, which are the main thrust of this step-change, include ultraprecision design and manufacturing, ultrahigh precision metrology, and ultraprecision assembly. They bring significant advantages to micromachining from the aspects of high accuracy and resolution, high complexity, high throughput, low lead time, low investment cost, etc.

In this Special Issue, we seek papers in all kinds of ultraprecision technologies with a clear contribution to the advancement of micromachining. Micromachining technologies include but are not limited to mechanical-based technologies such as diamond turning, precision grinding; chemical based technologies such as photolithography, reactive ion etching; physical based technologies such as laser, ion beam, electrical discharge machining; and their hybrids. Original research papers, review articles, and short communications are all welcome.

Dr. Jining Sun
Prof. Yukui Cai
Prof. Xichun Luo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Ultraprecision manufacturing
Ultrahigh precision metrology
Ultraprecision assembly
Micromachining
Microstructures
Microcomponent

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Related Special Issues

Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining, Volume II in Micromachines (8 articles)
Micro-Machining: Challenges and Opportunities in Micromachines (18 articles)

Published Papers (12 papers)

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17 pages, 9683 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Physics Fields Based Nonlinear Dynamic Behavior Analysis of Air Bearing Motorized Spindle

by Guoda Chen, Yijie Chen, Qi Lu, Quanhui Wu and Minghuan Wang

Micromachines 2020, 11(8), 723; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11080723 - 25 Jul 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2483

Abstract

The air bearing motorized spindle (ABMS) is the key component of the ultra-precision machine tool, which plays an important role in the ultra-precision machining process and directly influences machining accuracy. The influence of unbalanced magnetic force (UMF) on the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the ABMS is not understood clearly. To reveal the potential influence of the UMF, a mathematical model of the ABMS considering multiphysics fields is established. The variation trend of the UMF is simulated, and the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the ABMS is analyzed which emphasizes on the stability of the rotating shaft. It is shown that the UMF varies linearly at large rotor eccentricity which meets well with previous research, but it is noteworthy the UMF varies nearly to a quadratic function at small rotor eccentricity. The result of rotor dynamics shows that the UMF can change the converge position of the rotor center and the converge speed. Moreover, when at certain rotor mass and external load, the UMF can enlarge the stability boundary of the rotor. This research provides an example of analyzing the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the ABMS considering multiphysics fields which may help to the further investigation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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13 pages, 6954 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preliminary Study on Fluidized Bed Chemical Mechanical Polishing (FB-CMP) Process for Stainless Steel 304 (SS304)

by Taekyoung Kim and Hyunseop Lee

Micromachines 2020, 11(7), 705; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11070705 - 21 Jul 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2820

Abstract

Fluidized bed machining (FBM) is used for the surface finishing or cleaning of complex 3D machine parts. FBM is a process of injecting air into a chamber to encourage particles into a fluid-like state. Subsequently, FBM involves rotating the specimen at high speed to process the surface of the material. However, owing to the long processing time involved in FBM, there is a limit to its application in various industries. In this paper, we propose a fluidized bed chemical mechanical polishing (FB-CMP) process, wherein the material removal mechanism of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is applied to FBM to improve the processing efficiency of FBM. An FB-CMP system was prepared, and preliminary experiments on the chemical solution were conducted using stainless steel 304 (SS304) plates. In the experiment, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was used as the oxidant, oxalic acid (C₂H₂O₄) was used as the complexing agent and alumina (Al₂O₃) was used as the abrasive particle. The material removal rate (MRR) and roughness reduction rate during the FB-CMP of SS304 were dependent on the composition of the chemical solution. The experimental results revealed the highest MRR and roughness reduction rate at 0.33 wt % H₂O₂ and 0.2 wt % oxalic acid. To stabilize the proposed FB-CMP process, it is necessary to examine the chemical solutions of various materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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13 pages, 4258 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of Microspheres from High-Viscosity Bioink Using a Novel Microfluidic-Based 3D Bioprinting Nozzle

by Shanguo Zhang, Guiling Li, Jia Man, Song Zhang, Jianyong Li, Jianfeng Li and Donghai Li

Micromachines 2020, 11(7), 681; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11070681 - 14 Jul 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4563

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a novel technology utilizing biocompatible materials, cells, drugs, etc. as basic microcomponents to form 3D artificial structures and is believed as a promising method for regenerative medicine. Droplet-based bioprinting can precisely generate microspheres and manipulate them into organized structures with high fidelity. Biocompatible hydrogels are usually used as bioinks in 3D bioprinting, however, the viscosity of the bioink could be increased due to the additives such as cells, drugs, nutrient factors and other functional polymers in some particular applications, making it difficult to form monodispersed microspheres from high-viscosity bioink at the orifice of the nozzle. In this work, we reported a novel microfluidic-based printing nozzle to prepare monodispersed microspheres from high-viscosity bioink using the phase-inversion method. Different flowing conditions can be achieved by changing the flow rates of the fluids to form monodispersed solid and hollow microspheres using the same nozzle. The diameter of the microspheres can be tuned by changing the flow rate ratio and the size distribution of the microspheres is narrow. The prepared calcium alginate microspheres could also act as micro-carriers in drug delivery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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12 pages, 5786 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rolling Nanoelectrode Lithography

by Rashed Md. Murad Hasan, Xichun Luo and Jining Sun

Micromachines 2020, 11(7), 656; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11070656 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2447

Abstract

Non-uniformity and low throughput issues severely limit the application of nanoelectrode lithography for large area nanopatterning. This paper proposes, for the first time, a new rolling nanoelectrode lithography approach to overcome these challenges. A test-bed was developed to realize uniform pressure distribution over the whole contact area between the roller and the silicon specimen, so that the local oxidation process occurred uniformly over a large area of the specimen. In this work, a brass roller wrapped with a fabricated polycarbonate strip was used as a stamp to generate nanopatterns on a silicon surface. The experimental results show that a uniform pattern transfer for a large area can be achieved with this new rolling nanoelectrode lithography approach. The rolling speed and the applied bias voltage were identified as the primary control parameters for oxide growth. Furthermore, the pattern direction showed no significant influence on the oxide process. We therefore demonstrated that nanoelectrode lithography can be scaled up for large-area nanofabrication by incorporating a roller stamp. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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17 pages, 7317 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Suppression of Surface Waviness Error of Fresnel Micro-Structured Mold by Using Non-Integer Rotation Speed Ratio in Parallel Grinding Process

by Yongcheng Pan, Qingliang Zhao, Bing Guo, Bing Chen and Jinhu Wang

Micromachines 2020, 11(7), 652; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11070652 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3023

Abstract

Fresnel micro-structured lenses are widely used in the field of modern optoelectronic technology. High-precision Fresnel micro-structured mold is the key technology to achieve its large-scale replication production. Focusing on the surface waviness error of Fresnel micro-structured mold machined by parallel grinding process, this paper conducted theoretical modeling and experiment research. Based on the grinding kinematics theory, the simulation models of the surface waviness topography and the circular waviness profiles of the ground Fresnel micro-structured mold were developed, considering the combined influence of the non-integer rotation speed ratio and other grinding parameters. A series of grinding experiments were carried out to verify the proposed simulation models. The influence of a non-integer rotation speed ratio and a wave-shift value upon the surface waviness error of the ground Fresnel micro-structured molds were analyzed. Both the simulation and experimental results proved that choosing the non-integer rotation speed ratio and a proper wave-shift value could greatly reduce the surface waviness error and improve the surface quality and uniformity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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13 pages, 2070 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Orthogonal Experimental Research on Dielectrophoresis Polishing (DEPP) of Silicon Wafer

by Tianchen Zhao, Qianfa Deng, Cheng Zhang, Kaiping Feng, Zhaozhong Zhou and Julong Yuan

Micromachines 2020, 11(6), 544; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11060544 - 27 May 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2673

Abstract

Silicon wafer with high surface quality is widely used as substrate materials in the fields of micromachines and microelectronics, so a high-efficiency and high-quality polishing method is urgently needed to meet its large demand. In this paper, a dielectrophoresis polishing (DEPP) method was proposed, which applied a non-uniform electric field to the polishing area to slow down the throw-out effect of centrifugal force, thereby achieving high-efficiency and high-quality polishing of silicon wafers. The principle of DEPP was described. Orthogonal experiments on important polishing process parameters were carried out. Contrast polishing experiments of silicon wafer were conducted. The orthogonal experimental results showed that the influence ratio of electric field intensity and rotation speed on material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness was more than 80%. The optimal combination of process parameters was electric field intensity 450 V/mm, rotation speed 90 rpm, abrasive concentration 30 wt%, size of abrasive particle 80 nm. Contrast polishing experiments indicated that the MRR and material removal uniformity of DEPP were significantly better than traditional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Compared with the traditional CMP, the MRR of DEPP was increased by 17.6%, and the final surface roughness of silicon wafer reached Ra 0.31 nm. DEPP can achieve high-efficiency and high-quality processing of silicon wafer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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13 pages, 2473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanically Enabled Two-Axis Ultrasonic-Assisted System for Ultra-Precision Machining

by Nan Yu, Jinghang Liu, Hélène Mainaud Durand and Fengzhou Fang

Micromachines 2020, 11(5), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11050522 - 20 May 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4044

Abstract

With the use of ultrasonic-assisted diamond cutting, an optical surface finish can be achieved on hardened steel or even brittle materials such as glass and infrared materials. The proposed ultrasonic vibration cutting system includes an ultrasonic generator, horn, transducer, cutting tool and the fixture. This study is focused on the design of the ultrasonic vibration cutting system with a high vibration frequency and an optimized amplitude for hard and brittle materials, particularly for moulded steel. A two-dimensional vibration design is developed by means of the finite element analysis (FEA) model. A prototype of the system is manufactured for the test bench. An elliptical trajectory is created from this vibration system with amplitudes of micrometers in two directions. The optimization strategy is presented for the application development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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11 pages, 3586 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation of Superhydrophobic Surface on Titanium Alloy via Micro-Milling, Anodic Oxidation and Fluorination

by Xiao Zhang, Yi Wan, Bing Ren, Hongwei Wang, Mingzhi Yu, Anqi Liu and Zhanqiang Liu

Micromachines 2020, 11(3), 316; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11030316 - 17 Mar 2020

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 4167

Abstract

The superhydrophobic surface has a great advantage of self-cleaning, inhibiting bacterial adhesion, and enhancing anticoagulant properties in the field of biomedical materials. In this paper, a superhydrophobic surface was successfully prepared on titanium alloy via high-speed micro-milling, anodic oxidation and fluoroalkylsilane modification. The surface morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscope and a laser scanning microscope. The surface wettability was investigated through the sessile-drop method. Firstly, regular microgrooves were constructed by micro-milling. Then, nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodic oxidation. Afterwards, fluoroalkylsilane was used to self-assemble a monolayer on the surface with a composite micro/nanostructure. Compared to polished titanium samples, the modified samples exhibited superhydrophobic properties with the water contact angle (CA) of 153.7° and the contact angle hysteresis of 2.1°. The proposed method will provide a new idea for the construction of superhydrophobic titanium surgical instruments and implants in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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10 pages, 4343 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation on Ultrasonic Atomization Assisted Turning of Titanium Alloy

by Jianbing Meng, Bingqi Huang, Xiaojuan Dong, Yizhong Hu, Yugang Zhao, Xiuting Wei and Xiaosheng Luan

Micromachines 2020, 11(2), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11020168 - 5 Feb 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2510

Abstract

There are high cutting temperatures, large tool wear, and poor tool life in conventional machining, owing to the superior strength and low thermal conductivity of titanium alloy. In this work, ultrasonic atomization assisted turning (UAAT) of Ti6Al4V was performed with a mixed water-soluble oil-based cutting fluid, dispersed into tiny droplets by the high frequency vibration of a piezoelectric crystal. Different cutting speeds and two machining environments, dry and ultrasonic atomization assisted machining, were considered in the investigation of tool life, tool wear morphology, surface roughness, and chip morphology. In comparison with dry machining, UAAT shows lower tool wear and longer tool life due to the advantages of cooling and lubrication. Furthermore, better surface roughness, smoother chip edges, and shorter tool-chip contact length were obtained with UAAT. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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17 pages, 10834 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation on the Electrochemical Micromachining of Micro Through-Hole by Using Micro Helical Electrode

by Baohui Liu, Hang Zou, Haixuan Luo and Xiaoming Yue

Micromachines 2020, 11(2), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11020118 - 21 Jan 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3241

Abstract

The instability of machining process caused by the difficulty of the electrolyte refresh in electrochemical micromachining (EMM) of micro through-hole has been an unsolved problem. Thus, this paper investigates the electrochemical micromachining of micro through-hole by using a micro helical electrode combining with the jetting electrolyte. With the help of high-speed rotation of micro helical electrode and its spiral shape, the internal electrolyte can be stirred while the external jetting electrolyte can flow into the hole along the spiral groove to refresh the electrolyte effectively, thereby, improving the machining stability of EMM. Firstly, the influence of the process parameters on the fabrication of micro through-hole in the EMM by using micro helical electrode without non-conductive mask is investigated. Based on the optimization of the process parameters, a micro through-hole with an inlet dimension of 121.6 μm and an outlet dimension of 114.9 μm is obtained successfully. Furthermore, this paper also tries to use the micro helical electrode coated with the non-conductive mask to decrease the bad influence of the stray corrosion attack. It is found that the non-conductive mask coated on the surface of micro helical electrode can improve the machining accuracy significantly under the condition of low pulse frequency (≤1 KHz). However, its good effect on preventing the stray corrosion decreases along with the increase of the pulse frequency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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14 pages, 10462 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Machinability and Surface Generation of Pd₄₀Ni₁₀Cu₃₀P₂₀ Bulk Metallic Glass in Single-Point Diamond Turning

by Jie Xiong, Hao Wang, Guoqing Zhang, Yanbing Chen, Jiang Ma and Ruodong Mo

Micromachines 2020, 11(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11010004 - 18 Dec 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3217

Abstract

Pd₄₀Ni₁₀Cu₃₀P₂₀ bulk metallic glass (BMG) is widely used in industrial fields due to its excellent oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, and thermal stability. However, the lack of research on the machinability and cutting performance of BMG using single-point diamond turning (SPDT) limits its application for engineering manufacturing. In the present research, a series of turning experiments were carried out under different cutting parameters, and the machinability reflected by the quality of machined surface, chip morphology, and tool wear were analyzed. Based on the oxidation phenomenon of the machined surface, a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was conducted to study the mechanism and suppression of the machined surface oxidation during the cutting. The results show that: (1) The Pd-based BMG had good machinability, where the machined surface roughness could go down to 3 nm; (2) irregular micro/nanostructures were found along the tool path on the outer circular region of the machined surface, which greatly affected the surface roughness; and (3) the cutting heat softened the workpiece material and flattened the tool marks under surface tension, which improved the surface quality. This research provides important theoretical and technical support for the application of BMG in optical mold manufacturing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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11 pages, 5328 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Processing of an Optical Sinusoidal Grid

by Duo Li, Na Li, Xing Su, Peng Ji and Bo Wang

Micromachines 2019, 10(12), 828; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10120828 - 28 Nov 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2379

Abstract

Sinusoidal grid with nanometric precision is adopted as a surface encoder to measure multiple degree-of-freedom motions. This paper proposes the atmospheric pressure plasma processing (APPP) technique to fabricate an optical sinusoidal grid surface. The characteristics of removal function and surface generation mechanism are firstly presented. Both simulation and experiment validate the effectiveness of APPP to fabricate a sinusoidal grid surface with nanometric precision. Post mechanical polishing experiments show that APPP features can be well maintained while the surface roughness is greatly reduced to meet the optical requirement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra Precision Technologies for Micromachining)

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