Investigation into high-frequency-vibration assisted micro-blanking of pure copper foils

The difficulties encountered during the manufacture of microparts are often associated with size effects relating to material, process and tooling. Utilizing acoustoplastic softening, achieved through a high-frequency vibration assisted micro-blanking process, was introduced to improve the surface finish in micro-blanking. A frequency of 1.0 kHz was chosen to activate the longitudinal vibration mode of the horn tip, using a piezoelectric actuator. A square hole with dimensions of 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm was made, successfully, from a commercial rolled T2 copper foil with 100 μm in thickness. It was found that the maximum blanking force could be reduced by 5% through utilizing the high-frequency vibration. Proportion of the smooth, burnished area in the cut cross-section increases with an increase of the plasticity to fracture, under the high-frequency vibration, which suggests that the vibration introduced is helpful for inhibiting evolution of the crack due to its acoustoplastic softening effect. During blanking, roughness of the burnished surface could be reduced by increasing the vibration amplitude of the punch, which played a role as surface polishing. The results obtained suggest that the high-frequency vibration can be adopted in micro-blanking in order to improve quality of the microparts.