Attempt of three-dimensional shape generation with electrolyte suction tool

Abstract

Lamination of local electroplating film enables three-dimensional shape generation with a smooth surface and without heat affected layers. In this paper, we attempted a method to generate a three-dimensional shape by laminating electroplating with an electrolyte suction tool. In the equipment for local electroplating, the workpiece is fixed on an X-Y-Z stage, the plating solution is circulated in the electrolyte suction tool, and the copper plating is only performed on the selected area of workpiece surface under the tool tip. The electrolyte suction tool is mainly made of one tool electrode and one acrylic resin part that surrounds the tool electrode. Experiments for the lamination shaping were performed by increasing the reciprocal scanning number with the electrolyte suction tool, and the potentiality for three-dimensional shape generation was investigated and discussed. The results showed that the three-dimensional shape generation could be performed by scanning the electrolyte suction tool without scattering electrolyte. Also, the electrode volume wear ratio of Au electrode was similar to that of carbon fiber electrode, and the wear ratio was quite small and under 2 %. The price of carbon fiber is about one five hundredth compared with that of Au. Therefore, the utility of carbon fiber is very high in this research. In addition, the height of electrodeposit was increased in proportion to the number of round trip scanning of the electrolyte suction tool. However, it was found difficult to build a stable laminating height higher than 300 μm due to magnification of the protrusion.