Experimental investigation in photochemical machining process through response surface methodology for manufacturing of micro mould

Photochemical machining (PCM) is used as one of the best micromachining technique for machining of difficult-to-cut material with appropriate machining parametric combinations. Ferric chloride is used as etchant for machining of Stainless Steel-304. In the present study, the effect of process parameters such as time of etching, temperature of etchant and concentration of etchant on material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (Ra), undercut (Uc) and etch factor (EF) in PCM of SS-304 is evaluated by using response surface methodology (RSM) and the optimum machining condition is evaluated. The central composite design (L20) is used to understand the behaviour of responses with change in levels of machining parameters. The optimum machining parameters evaluated are temperature of etchant at 54.65°C, time of etching at 47.14 min. and concentration of etchant at 727.80 g/l. The confirmatory result shows the improvement in performance quality with setting of machining parameter at optimum level. The optimum machining parameters are used to manufacture the array of micro mould with size of 139 µm, 204 µm and depth of 15 µm, 13 µm used in different engineering and biomedical application.