Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

DOI 10.1007/s00170-015-8119-6

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Electrochemical mechanical polishing technology: recent

developments and future research and industrial needs
Abd El Khalick Mohammad1,2 · Danwei Wang1

Received: 4 July 2015 / Accepted: 12 November 2015 / Published online: 12 January 2016
© Springer-Verlag London 2016

Abstract Electrochemical mechanical (ECM) polishing such as flexibility, low price and mechanical reconfigurabil-
processes are widely used in various industries such as die ity, they are an effective and economical solution for ECM
and mould manufacturing, turbine blades, and components polishing of geometrically complex workpieces. In order to
with complex surfaces. They are used to improve the surface advance the ECM technology for the next competitive stage
quality and get glossy surfaces with enhanced mechani- where a promising quantitative and qualitative processing is
cal properties. In this paper, the authors first look into the required, the authors proposed that the future researches on
fundamental principles of the ECM polishing technology. ECM polishing should also include ECM polishing using
Then the main parameters that affect the ECM polishing robots. In addition, the authors propose several configura-
process such as applied voltage, electrolyte concentration, tions and setups of robotic ECM polishing systems. The
rotational speed and polishing pressure are discussed, and research topics in this area should include designing of new
the related research issues are raised. Studying these param- ECM polishing tools, investigating the synergistic effects
eters will enhance the performance, increase the efficiency of additional sources of energies such as magnetic field
of ECM polishing technology and provide a useful refer- and ultrasonic vibrations besides the normal effect of ECM
ence for further developments. Up to date, automatic ECM tools and developing models and control methods of the
polishing is limited for planarization process and surfaces processes.
with simple geometry such as hole-wall and rotary sur-
faces. In addition, in some of ECM finishing technologies, Keywords Electrochemical mechanical polishing ·
the limited available working space usually forces the man- Grinding · Robotics · Surface finishing and Force control
ufacture to machine one part in multiple stages. Because
robots have some advantages over conventional machines
1 Introduction

Material removal processes to achieve high precision prod-

 Abd El Khalick Mohammad ucts are widely used in various industries such as die and
[email protected] mould manufacturing, turbine blades and components with
Danwei Wang complex surfaces. Conducting these processes manually is
[email protected] a time consuming and costly specially in high-wage coun-
tries because they require expert laborers. In addition, they
1 School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Nanyang expose the laborers to high noise levels and metal dust envi-
Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 ronments [1, 8, 34, 81, 84]. Hence, it is inefficient and
Nanyang, Singapore
difficult to obtain quantitative and qualitative processing.
2 Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut Generally, the finishing and polishing processes are clas-
University, Assiut, 71515 Egypt sified into different categories based on the energy sources.
1910 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

They are classified into mechanical, chemical, electrical and hardness and strength of the machined material [49, 74]. In
electrochemical polishing [88]. Figure 1 shows schemat- addition, no contact force is required as in the CMP tech-
ically the classification of the finishing process with an nology. Furthermore, the finished surfaces have excellent
example for each type. Each process of the above men- corrosion resistance, stress relief and a re-hygienically clean
tioned processes has its own limitation if it works in an with no directionality finish or hydrogen embrittlement [28,
individual manner and not able to meet the demand of indus- 88].
trial manufacture [88]. For example, the finishing processes Including the mechanical energy to electrical and chem-
which employ mechanical energy such as grinding, gen- ical energies is referred as electrochemical mechanical pol-
erate heat due to friction between the workpiece and the ishing (ECMP) technology. ECMP can be classified into
grinding tool. Hence, an affected zone results on the fin- three categories: ECMP with free abrasives (e.g. ECM
ished surface. In addition, the abrasives of the mechanical planarization [87]), ECMP with bonded abrasives (e.g. elec-
finishing tool cause fine directional lines on the surface. On trochemical grinding [7]) and ECMP with burnishing force
the other hand, electrical and chemical polishing processes (e.g. electrochemical turning and roller burnishing [16])
suffer from low material removal rate, hence, surface tex- [88]. However, these technologies have some limitations in
tures and rough scratches cannot be removed by a practical the current configurations. The first type is limited for flat
amount. In order to meet the industrial manufacturing needs, surfaces and cannot be applied for workpieces with com-
a combination of the above methods is necessary to improve plex surfaces. The second type is limited for workpieces
the performance of individual processes. with small size because of the limited workspace of the
Combining the chemical and mechanical actions is machine. In addition, workpieces with complex shapes need
referred as the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). CMP to be processed in several stages which is time consuming.
process has been widely used in copper interconnects pla- The last type is also limited for workpieces with rotational
narization. It is a balanced polishing process, relying on the forms only. In order to address the above mentioned limi-
chemical interaction of the slurry with polishing substrate tations, the authors present novel configurations of ECMP
and mechanical down-force applied to the substrate [50, 97]. with robotic system in this paper.
However, adding the mechanical effect increases the mate- The rest of this paper is organized as follows:
rial removal rate (MRR) slightly, the applied down-force Section 2.1 introduces the basic mechanism of the electro-
in conventional CMP must be greatly reduced to manage chemical polishing technology and the effect of the different
the weak mechanical strength of low-k materials and to parameters on the performance of the process. Then the
reduce dishing, erosion and de-lamination [4]. Hence, con- effect of combining the mechanical action to the electro-
ventional CMP technique is limited for such applications chemical polishing technology will be given in Section 3. In
due to higher down-force [50]. addition, the different types of electrochemical mechanical
Combining the electrical and chemical actions is referred polishing is discussed with their applications and limita-
as the electrochemical polishing (ECP). Electrochemical tions. In order to address the limitations of the conventional
polishing, electropolishing, electrolytic polishing, electro- ECMP technologies, the authors proposed several config-
brightening, reverse-plating or de-plating are different syn- urations for the ECMP using robotics manipulators as a
onyms of the electrochemical polishing technology. ECP, future research and industrial needs in Section 4. Section 5
which is a method of surface finish machining under non- gives the conclusions and future works.
contact and open-type conditions, is not limited by the

2 Electrochemical polishing
Energy source Example

Mechanical Grinding 2.1 Basic mechanism in electrochemical polishing

Horizontal
Electrochemical polishing is a process in which a metal-
Chemical chemical polishing lic surface is made smoothed by anodic dissolution using
Polishing
processes an electrochemical reaction. The first reference to the elec-
Electrical Hybrid electrical tropolishing was in 1912, when the government of German
discharge polishing
issued a patent for the finishing of silver by using a cyanide
solution [11, 69]. However, experiments were continued, the
Electrochemical Electropolishing next significant advance was not made until 1935 when cop-
per was successfully electro-polished by Jacket [92]. During
Fig. 1 Classification of finishing/polishing processes by the type of World War II, a new formula was obtained [11, 40]. The
energy source and corresponding example of each category [88] mechanism of the electrochemical polishing is similar to,
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1911

Cathode
Workpiece
– Electrochemical polishing selectively removes micro-
Oxygen
gas scopic peaks much faster than the corresponding rate
Oxygen of removing on the microscopic valleys as shown
gas
Oxide in Fig. 2b.
film Osmosis
– Stock is removed as metallic salt and leaving a sur-
face that is microscopically smooth and free of any
blemishes.
DC – Contaminations and debris left from mechanical sur-
power supply
face treatments are also removed by electro polishing as
Hydrogen
Workpiece
shown in Fig. 2c.
gas Electrolyte (anode) (a) (b) (c) – During the process, the hydrogen and oxygen gas will
be formed from the cathode and anode, respectively, as
Fig. 2 Schematic illustration of the basic mechanism of electrochemi- shown in Fig. 2.
cal polishing, a Initial surface, b On polishing surface and (c) Polished
surface [37, 40–42] The result of this process being that the surface becomes
brightly polished and much smoother without affecting the
quality of the material. ECP is a powerful tool in many man-
ufacturing process such as aerospace industry (e.g. turbine
but the reverse of, electroplating. It is used for removing blades and vacuum chambers), surgical (e.g. instruments
the metal from the object’s surface through an electrochem- and implants) and marine (e.g. boat handrails and fittings).
ical process while in electroplating, an outer covering of the Figure 3 shows a typical current-voltage characteristic
object’s surface, is added. curve of ECP process. The process states are summarized as
The mechanism of ECP can be summarized as follows follows [43, 44, 49, 88]:
[37, 40–42]:
(a–b) Active zone: The anode is under normal dissolution
– An electrolytic cell consists of the object to be electro- reaction and the relationship between the applied
polished (i.e. workpiece), a metal plat, an electrolyte voltage and current density is almost linear. Dur-
and a DC power supply as shown in Fig. 2. ing the anodic dissolution, the dissolution rate at the
– The workpiece is immersed in the electrolyte and con- anode is the slowest under diffusive mechanism.
nected to the positive terminal of the power supply (i.e. (b–c) Passive zone: When the anode is at voltage b, the
acts as an anode). metallic hydroxide film formation begins. Increas-
– The metal plate is immersed in the electrolyte nearby ing of the applied voltage forms a stronger passive
the object and connected to the negative side of the film that has higher resistance.
power supply (acts as a cathode). (c–d) Transient zone: The increase in the resistance of
– When the DC power supply is turned on, the electrical the film prevents the electrochemical reaction effi-
charge forces the metal ions to be dissolved from the ciency from increasing.
anode (workpiece) surface. (d–e) Trans-Passive zone: When the applied voltage is
– During the process, a thin passive film of a metallic high enough to pill-off the formed passive film,
oxide that has a high specific gravity covers the surfaces a very active reaction begins. The substrate is
of the anode. This film has varying thicknesses over the exposed after the damaged passive film was pilled-
surface such that it is thickest over micro-depressions off exposing more surface area for electrochemical
valleys and thinnest over micro-projections peaks as reaction.
shown in Fig. 2a.
– The electrical resistance is at a minimum wherever the Furthermore, during ECP, the oxygen that generated on
film is thinnest and vice versa. the surface of the workpiece removes the metallic salt into
– Because the process is under constant applied voltage, electrolyte from the workpiece surface, especially at high
the current density across the surface is inverse propor- spot regions. The metallic salt can be dissolved by acid in
tionality with the resistance, thus, it is greater at the electrolyte results into additional mechanical treatment of
peaks and lesser at the valleys. the polished surface.
– The rate of the electrochemical polishing reaction
is directly proportional to the current density. The 2.2 ECP process parameters
increased current density at the peaks forces the metal
to dissolve faster at these points and thus tends to level ECP has attracted many researchers to investigate the dif-
the surface material. ferent characteristics of the process such as applied voltage,
1912 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

e
(H2 SO4 , 8–20 %), sodium hydroxide (NaOH, 5–20 %),
sodium nitrite (NaNO2 ) and sodium chlorate (NaClO3 ,
40 %) [75]. The various electrolytes along with their con-
c d
b centrations that used in ECP processes are summarized in
Table 2 [88]. Under certain circumstances, additives such as
glycerol may be used to improve process performance [43,
Current

108] or chromic acid to enhance surface shine [3], the draw-

back being that it is a highly toxic and dangerous acid to
handle [60]. In order to obtain the best material removal in
the ECP process, electrolyte parameters such as concentra-
Active Passive Transient Trans-passive
a tion, composition, temperature and flow rate should also be
optimized [76, 88, 90].

Applied voltage
3 Electrochemical mechanical polishing
Fig. 3 A typical current-voltage characteristic curve of electrochemi-
cal polishing process: a–b Active zone, b–c passive zone, c–d transient
zone and d–e tarns-passive zone [43, 44, 49, 88] The electro polishing processes suffer from low material
removal rate, hence, surface textures and rough scratches
cannot be removed by practical amount. In addition, some
machining time and electrolyte types and concentration. researchers such as Lin et al. [49] reported that, however, the
Some commonly used voltages and current densities for material removal increases slightly as time increases dur-
different workpiece materials are summarized in Table 1. ing ECP, a disagreed with the Faraday’s law occurs after
In addition, polishing with pulsed DC was reported to time 400s. They attributed the difference to the thin passive
be better than with continuous DC [80]. Park and Lee [70] film on the anode surface which prevent further reaction.
proposed a pulse electrochemical polishing (PECP) process Another reason was reported is that there is no forced
to improve the conventional ECP, and they determined a agitation of the electrolyte because most of the metallic
preferable pulse duration that was four times longer than compound may be deposited increasingly back to the anode
the time constants. In addition, Kim and Park [37] ver- surface. On the other hand and due to rapid dissolution or
ified that the PECP with 0.8 ms enhances the corrosion surface defects or impurity, the reactions at certain place
resistance compared with the test specimens processed with continuousness following Faraday’s law. This inhomoge-
other pulse times for stainless steel 316L specimens with neous material removal causes pits on the surface during the
NaCl solution to simulate the sea water. Hocheng and Pa transient-passive state [39].
[29] proposed an equivalent pulse effect through changing To address this problem, electrochemical mechanical
the geometrical form of the electrode. polishing (ECMP) technology is employed. ECMP is a
The electrolyte in the process used can be concentrated compound polishing method that combines electrochemi-
acids or alkali depending upon the material being machined. cal with mechanical action. Its main mechanism is based
This process is more systematic since most of the param- on anodic dissolution as presented in the above section.
eters can be easily controlled during the process. The Due to the anodic dissolution, a passive film forms on the
commonly used electrolytes are sodium chloride (NaCl, 5– anode (workpiece) surface under a certain electrochemical
25 %), sodium nitrate (NaNO3 , 10–20 %), sulfuric acid parameters. This film is scratched at high spot regions of the

Table 1 Commonly used voltages and current densities in electrochemical polishing as reported by Hensel [28]

Workpiece material Voltage Current density Remarks

Aluminum 10-15V 160mA/cm Because it is amphoteric in nature, aluminum can be electro–

polished in both acid and alkaline electrolytes. Only super-purity
alloys (99.95 %) should be used.
Copper and alloys 6-25V 100-1000mA/cm
Stainless steel 9-13V 100-1000mA/cm Stainless steel is the most popular electro-polished metal today.
It retains its finish, and no after-treatment is required.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1913

Table 2 Typical electrolytes and their concentrations used in electrochemical polishing as reported by Hensel [28] and others [88]

Workpiece material Electrolyte

Aluminum Phosphoric acid, 75 % + Sulfuric acid, 4.7 % + Chromic acid, 6.5 % + (Al3+ + Cr3+ ), to 6 % [28]
Copper & alloys Chromic acid, 7.2 % + Sodium dichromate, 21.7 % + Acetic acid, 7.2 % + Sulfuric acid, 5.8 % [28]
Sodium tripolyphosphate, 14-16 % + Boric acid, 4-5 % [28]
Ammonium phosphate, 8.1 % + Citric acid, 8.1 % + Potassium phosphate, 2 % [28]
0.13M Oxalic acid + Hydrogen peroxide, 5 % [85]
Citric acid, 1 % + Hydrogen peroxide, 5 %+ 0.05M Potassium binitrate [23]
Nickel & alloys Sulfuric acid, 60 % + Chromic acid, to saturation [28]
Sulfuric acid, 60 % + Glycerin, 20 % [28]
Nickel sulfate, 240g/L + Ammonium sulfate, 45g/L + Potassium chloride, 35g/L
+ Orthophosphoric acid, 15-70 % + Sulfuric acid, 15-60 % [28]
Steel Pyrophosphoric acid, 400g + Ethyl alcohol, to make 1L (water must be absent) [28]
Sulfuric acid, 15 % + Phosphoric acid, 63 % + Chromic acid, 10 % [28]
Lactic acid, 33 % + Phosphoric acid, 40 % + Sulfuric acid, 15.5 % [28]
Phosphoric acid, 55-85 % + Trialkali metalphosphate, 1-15 %
+ Alkali metalsulfate, 0.5 % minimum [28]
Sodium nitrate + Sodium sulfate
+ Additives (Sodium tartrate + Glycerin + Glycol), Solution of 5 % [7]
SUS316LVV Sodium nitrate, 20 % [94]
Stainless steel Phosphoric acid + Glycerin, 90 % Glycerin > 50 % [28]
Citric acid, 55 % + Sulfuric acid, 15 % [28]
Sulfuric acid, 15 % + Phosphoric acid, 63 % [28, 40]
Phosphoric acid, 56 % + Sulfuric acid, 27 % + Diethyleneglycolmonobutylether, 7 % [28]
Lactic acid, 33 % + Phosphoric acid, 40 % + Sulfuric acid, 13.5% [28]
Phosphoric acid, 56 % + Chromic acid, 12 % [28]
Sulfuric acid, 10-60 % + Glycolic acid, 20-80 % [28]
Phosphoric acid 46.5 % + Sulfuric acid 26.2 % + Glycerol 18 % [10]

surface by abrasives, and then fresh layers of the substrate categories. A detailed description of each category with
are immediately exposed to the electrolyte. The mechanical its applications and limitations are given in the following
action increases the removal rate in the high spot region of subsections.
the anode surface and accelerates the rate of anodic smooth-
ing [95]. In ECMP process, approximately 90 % of the 3.1 ECMP with free abrasives type
material is removed through electrochemical action while
the mechanical abrasion is controlled to a minimum, just Figure 4a schematically shows ECMP with free abrasives
enough to preferentially remove the metal oxide micro-film type. In this type, the abrasives (A) are not bonded to the
from the higher spots protruding from the ideal configu- polishing tool but mixed with an electrolyte (E). A conduc-
ration and hence resulting in surface non-uniformity [13]. tive tool (T) with a permeative polishing pad is connected
Because only a small amount of material is removed by the to the negative side of the power supply and acts as a cath-
mechanical action, the polishing tool life is typically ten ode. The workpiece (W) is connected to the positive side of
times longer than that of a conventional mechanical tool [14, a DC power supply and works as an anode. The mixture of
65, 72, 91]. the abrasives and electrolyte (A+E) is fed between the work-
The ECMP can be categorized according to the conjunc- piece (W) from one side and the polishing pad and polishing
tion mechanical action to free abrasives, bonded abrasives tool (T) from the second side. Then a mechanical force (F)
and burnishing force [88]. Figure 4 shows schematically and a relative motion are applied between the polishing pad
an example for each category from the above mentioned and the workpiece (W) to remove the passive film caused by
1914 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

Fig. 4 Different hybridization

types between electrochemical (a) (b) (c)
and mechanical polishing
actions: a Free abrasives type, b
F F
W
Bonded abrasives type and c R
Burnishing force type [88]
T T
E
Pad A
A+E F
E
W C
W
F: Force, T: Tool (cathode), E: Electrolyte, A: Abrasive,
W: Workpiece (anode), R: Roller, and C: Cathode surface
x

the electrochemical action. Electrochemical mechanical pla- complicated by the multiphase nature of the slurry [86].
narization to planarize copper or other metal layers is widely However, probably the most important benefit of ECM pla-
used application of the ECMP with free abrasives type. narization is economic, since the ECM planarization elec-
Many industries such as integrated circuits, hard disk, trolyte replaces expensive slurries and the consumable life
scanning electron microscopy and solar cells require to is extended by the inherently lower down force of this pro-
achieve both local and global planarization of wafers sur- cess, which translates into lower consumable costs [6, 86].
face. ECM planarization has been widely used to remove Compared to conventional CMP, ECM planarization allows
excessive material to achieve super smooth surfaces with no ten times lower down force for planarization [12]. Lee et
defects such as scratches, pits or protrusions. A schematic al. [47] reported that the carrier table stalls when the press
of a typical ECM planarization set up is shown in Fig. 5 [47, pressure exceeds 1.2 kg/cm2 . Thus, 1.0 kg/cm2 press pres-
96]. The ECM planarization set up consists of a DC power sure is chosen for the experiments. Many researches have
supply with a feedback and control system, workpiece hold- been carried out for ECM planarization of copper wafers for
ers or polishing head, an electrolyte with abrasives bath, integrated circuses manufacturing. In order to find suitable
and a polishing pad with rotational driver. The workpiece electrochemical process parameters for ECM planariza-
(wafer) usually is mounted in the polishing head which is tion of copper, Seo [79] studied the basic electrochemical
designed in such a way to connect the workpiece through aspects of Cu-ECM planarization such as appropriate oper-
an electrical conductor to the positive side of the DC power ating voltage, electrolyte concentration, and operating time.
supply. The cathode is fixed to a rotating platen part and Kulyk et al. [38] studied the influence of soft and hard
connected to the negative side of the power supply. The pro- polymer pads on the morphology of the planarized copper
cess controller is employed to control the power supply via surface. They found that the dishing effect could be elimi-
feedback system to regulated the applied voltage. A bath nated by using a hard polyurethane pad. In addition, Jeong et
of electrolyte and abrasives is fed between the cathode and al. [32] reported that the a global uniformity was achieved,
workpiece. The polishing pad keep a distance between the and the MRR was high in the copper ECM planarization
cathode and the anode to prevent electrical spark. When process by the polyurethane pad. They also reported that the
electrical current flows in the electrolytic circuit, a chemical
reactions between the surface material and the electrolyte
bath results in multiple changes in the immersed workpiece DC
Power supply
surface. As oxide layers developed or receded (depend-
Electrolyte + abrasives
ing on the applied potential), the electrolyte bath chemistry Process control
was altered. The sample surface changed and mechani-
Soft pad
cally polished as it rotates against the polishing pad. By
Sample
controlling the voltage and bath chemistry, the material sur-
face is polished with the chemical reactions augmenting the
mechanical polishing and reducing surface damage. Cathode
ECM planarization may be more environmentally benign
than conventional methods such as chemical mechanical
planarization, since many commonly employed oxidiz- Fig. 5 Schematic illustration of the electrochemical mechanical pla-
ing agents are environmental toxins, and their removal is narization system [47, 96]
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1915

within wafer non-uniformity is affected when the abrasive by the electrochemical action. Electrochemical grinding is
concentration was greater than 10 vol % in the electrolyte an application of the ECMP with bonded abrasives type.
consisting of 6 wt % of H3 PO4 solution, 0.5 wt % of H2 O2 Mechanical grinding of hardly machined materials such
solution, 0.5 wt % of BTA and 0.5 wt % of glycine. When as sintered carbides, stainless steels and titanium alloys is
the abrasive concentration was greater than 10 vol % in the characterized by the considerable wear of grinding wheels.
electrolyte, the roughness was improved. Apart from cop- This increases the production costs and moreover reduces
per wafer planarization, Huo et al. [30] reported that ECP the dimensional accuracy of the products due to geometri-
of bulk copper also results in a small surface roughness (Ra cal change of the grinding tool. In addition, the mechanical
< 10 nm) in solutions of phosphoric acid, HEDP and phos- energy generates heat due to friction between the workpiece
phoric acid with additives CuO, ethylene glycol and sodium and the grinding tool. Hence, an affected zone results on
tripolyphosphate. the finished surface [15, 88, 100]. Furthermore, the abra-
On the other hand, researchers employed ECM pla- sives of the mechanical polishing tool cause fine directional
narization to planarize other material except copper. For lines on the surface. These limitations make the conven-
example, Lee et al. [45] studied the effects of electro- tional grinding processes do not meet the demand of the
chemical parameters such as the electrolyte, pH values and modern industrial manufacture.
operating potential on the metal removal rate of polish- ECG is a non-conventional hybrid machining process
ing AISI 316L stainless steel (SS) (SS316L). Xiangfeng that combines mechanical removal by means of abrasive
et al. [96] used ECM planarization to planarize the NiP action with electrochemical dissolution [2, 48, 73]. A typ-
substrate of the hard disk. They investigated the effect of ical ECG process consists of grinding wheel, workpiece,
the polishing conditions such as voltage and rotation speed electrolyte, and DC power supply as shown in Fig. 6. The
of polisher on the polishing properties such as material grinding wheel consists of an electrically conductive core
removal rate and surface roughness. Moreover, the ECM and non-conductive abrasives. The core is connected to the
planarization is an efficient and economical method for negative side of the power supply and works as a cathode.
producing a super smooth stainless steel surface as the The conductive workpiece is connected to positive side of
substrate for thin-film solar cells [46, 47]. In order to ver- the power supply and performs as an anode. The abrasive
ify the effectiveness of ECM planarization for SS, Lee particles in the grinding wheel jut beyond the conductive
et al. [47] polished SS304 and SS430 substrates sized core surface. This establishes a machining gap between
10 × 10 cm. Then an amorphous silicon solar cells are fab- workpiece and the grinding tool as shown in Fig. 6. Elec-
ricated simultaneously on SS304-Bright Annealing (BA), trolytic action begins when the machining gap is filled with
SS304-ECMP, SS430-BA, and SS430-ECMP substrates in an electrolyte. A passivation film occurs on the workpiece
the same run. The substrates treated with ECMP have bet- surface and hence the micro-hardness of the dissolved sur-
ter cell performance than untreated substrates. Tiley et al. face decreases. As the grinding wheel feeding down, the
[93] developed a low stress automated ECMP system for abrasive grains act to remove the soft, non-reactive pas-
preparing titanium and nickel alloys (Ti6Al4V and IN718) sivation layer, thus exposing fresh metal for electrolytic
for scanning electron microscopy imaging. They showed reaction. Simultaneously, the electrolyte trapped between
that a subsurface damage is decreased using the devel- the protruding abrasive grains and the workpiece forms
oped ECMP compared to standard mechanical polishing tiny electrolytic cells, thus electrochemical dissolution of
techniques. workpiece materials occurs [107]. Because the electrical
resistance is different across the workpiece surface such
3.2 ECMP with bonded abrasives type that burrs and sharp edges experience a lower electrical
resistance than smoother surfaces, the metal is dissolved at
In the ECMP with bonded abrasives type (Fig. 4b), the a faster rate in the case of surfaces with lower electrical
workpiece (W) is connected to the positive side of a DC resistance. Mechanical grinding helps to reduce these non-
power supply and works as an anode. A conductive tool (T) uniformity. Hence, it achieves a smother surface compared
with bonded (non-conductive) abrasives (A) is connected to with the conventional ECP.
the negative side of the power supply and acts as a cathode. Goswami et al. [24] observed that there was about
A continuous stream of electrolyte (E) flows at the interface 75–95% reduction in grinding force by ECG compared
of the workpiece and the tool with bonded abrasives to close to conventional grinding while machining Al2 O3 /Al IPC.
the electrolytic circuits. The electrolyte fluid is a conduc- Because of the significant reduction in cutting forces, the
tive aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of chemical tool wear in this technology is considerably reduced in com-
salts and other additive [33, 98]. Then a mechanical force parison to those of conventional mechanical grinding [55,
(F) and a relative motion are applied between the tool (T) 101–103]. Zaborski et al. compared the tool wear in con-
and the workpiece (W) to remove the passive film caused ventional mechanical grinding and ECG of sintered carbides
1916 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

Fig. 6 Schematic illustration of

electrochemical grinding system
[71] Grinding wheel
(cathode) Cutting abrasives
(non conductive)
Electrolyte

Passive
film

Conductive Machining gap

DC power supply Workpiece wheel
(anode)

and titanium alloy. They reported that the greatest linear internal cylinder surface grinding, and the process was ver-
wear arises in mechanical grinding of sintered carbides and ified for aircraft engine component. By pulsing the applied
titanium alloy after 3 min is about eight and six times, voltage in ECG process, Tehrani and Atkinson [91] obtained
respectively, greater than in ECG at the same parameters. a reduction to zero overcut. Recently, Molla and Alakesh
In addition, this difference decreases to about four and five [58] developed a mathematical model to represent the sur-
times, respectively, for the benefit of electrochemical grind- face roughness as a function of the grinding wheel speed,
ing. Mariusz and Stanisaw [54] reported that the specific electrolyte concentration, supply voltage, current density
energy consumption for mechanical grinding was higher and workpiece speed in ECG using and analysis of variance
than that for ECG on average by a factors of 4, 6.5 and 3 method. Pa [63] studied the effect of the rotational speed of
for B40ca., Ti6Al4V and 18G2A alloys, respectively. Using the tool on the ECG performance by using rotational speeds
delicate working conditions of diamond electrochemical from 200 to 1200 RPM. He reported that the high rotational
grinding such as operating voltage and electrolyte flow rate, speed of the polishing tool produces a better effect to the
Mogilnikov et al. [57] obtained the optimum performance grinding and the electrochemical finishing. Ilhan et al. have
of ceramic metal-tungsten plates, such as linear dimensions, reported a similar result [31].
surface roughness, structure of surface layers, reflection
power, zero-defect quality and durability. ECG process is 3.3 ECMP with burnishing force type
verified to be effective processing of aircraft engine com-
ponent [26]. Ming et al. [56] developed an electrically The burnishing process is a finishing technique to improve
conductive diamond mounted point electrochemical grind- the metal surface roughness, surface hardness and dimen-
ing (DMP-ECG) process for hard passive alloys unclosed sional accuracy. Furthermore, the burnishing process

Fig. 7 A typical
DC Burnishing force
electrochemical mechanical
roller burnishing system [19, 47, Power supply
A Electrolyte
96]
Valve Chuck inlet
Pump
Tail Chuck Cathode

Roller
A

Electrolyte Brush Workpiece

Section A-A
Electrolyte tank Drain electrolyte
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1917

reduces the surface defects and modifies the micro-structure 4 Future research and industrial needs
of the traditional and nontraditional machined surface [18,
19]. The principle of the burnishing process is based on cut- With increasing demand for better surface finish of prod-
ting with small depth enough to no chip will be formed ucts with free surfaces such as turbine blades, propellers,
in the process. In this process, an indenting tool (ball or die and mould manufacturing, the finishing process of such
roller) rolling against the workpiece surface and a sufficient products turns to be more complex and requiring increas-
force is applied. Plastic flow of the original asperities occurs ingly high precision. The manual polishing process requires
when the yield point of the workpiece material is exceeded. more time and cost because they require expert labors [1,
As a result, a good surface finish, increased hardness and 34, 81]. In addition, these processes expose labors to high
corrosion resistance and fatigue life is achieved [16, 19, noise levels, chemicals and metal dust environments. Hence,
51–53]. they are inefficient to obtain the promising quantitative and
In ECMP with burnishing force type as shown (Fig. 4c), qualitative processing. In order to address the above men-
the workpiece (W) is subjected to a rotational motion (R) tioned limitations, automatic material removal processes
and connected through brush to the positive side of a DC such as computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines
power supply (anode). A non-conductive tool is used to are employed [83].
apply the burnishing force (F) upon the workpiece. A cath- ECM planarization machines are designed to deal only
ode (C) is connected to the negative side of the power with flat surfaces such as copper wafer and stainless steel
supply. A bath of electrolyte (E) flows at the interface substrate for thin-film solar cells. On the other hand, ECG
of the workpiece and the cathode to close the electrolytic machines are fast and very effective on difficult-to-machine
circuits. alloys such as medical apparatus or parts with complex sur-
A typical ECMP with burnishing force is shown faces such as turbine blades and vanes for aircraft turbine
in Fig. 7. The system consists of a center lathe machine to engines. However, the limited available working area of
provide the required rotational motion of the workpiece. The these machines usually leads to process one part in mul-
workpiece is attached to the spindle through the chuck from tiple stages. In addition, special fixtures and techniques
one side and carried by the tail chuck from the second side. to produce the surfaces with complex shapes are needed.
A burnishing force is applied on the workpiece through a Moreover, ECM polishing with burnishing force machines
non-conductive roller. A brush is used to allow the passage are limited to workpieces with regular shapes. In other
of the electrical current to the workpiece from the positive words, ECM polishing of complex workpieces with sculp-
side of the power supply. On the other hand, the cathode is ture surfaces and large size is not possible by such machines.
connected to the negative side of the power supply. A pump Hence, the ECM polishing process should be automatized in
feeds the electrolyte from a tank through a controlled valve an innovative way such that the above mentioned limitations
to the workpiece to close the electrolytic circuit. Adjusting can be avoided.
the rollers controls the electrolyte-flooded inter-electrode In this paper, the authors put forward industrial robotic
gap between the cathode surface and the workpiece [19, 47, as a basis for a novel automation method of the ECM
62, 96]. polishing technology. Industrial robots have some advan-
Pa [62] developed a continuous processes of electro- tages over these machines such as flexibility, low price and
chemical finishing and burnishing to make the free form mechanical reconfigurability. Hence, in the recent years,
surface smooth and bright. El-Taweel and Ebeid [16, 19] the industrial robots become an effective and economical
studied the effect of process parameters such as applied solution for material removing process from geometrically
voltage, burnishing force, inter-electrode gap, and rotational complex workpieces [25, 59, 83]. This fact has attracted
speed on the roundness error and surface micro-hardness. many researchers to investigate possible methods of design-
They investigated an optimum combination of parameter ing and implementing robotic polishing systems [27]. For
settings for ECMP with burnishing force process by using example, Ryuh et al. [78] proposed a robotic die pol-
multi objective optimization techniques. It was reported that ishing station controlled by a PC and a robot controller.
the surface micro-hardness increased about 31.5 % com- The robot can exchange the grinding tool automatically
pared to the initial value, and about 2.32 μm roundness so that the operation was completely unmanned. In order
error could be achieved using the optimum combination of to understand the mechanism of the polishing process and
process parameters. In a similar way, Pa [67] developed a hence design an appropriate automatic polishing unite,
tool using the burnishing and electrochemical finishing to researchers have developed several models and analysis.
improve the traditional boring. In addition, he used a mag- Roswell et al. [77] studied the contact stress for an auto-
netic assistance to help discharge dreg from the gap between mated polishing process and reported that the polishing
the electrodes and the workpiece during electrochemical stress affects the quality of the polished part not the force
finishing and burnishing [66]. exerted on the polishing tool. In addition, force control
1918 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

Fig. 8 A proposed robotics

electrochemical mechanical End effector
polishing system (polishing tool + cathode)
Articulated
Valve robot
Workpiece
Pump (anode)

Electrolyte
tank

DC
Electrolyte Drain
power supply
electrolyte

between the workpiece and the polishing tool is an attrac- errors [9, 104]. Beyond that, large polishing forces cause
tive topic in the field of robotics polishing applications. extremely tool wearing.
Nagata et al. [59] developed a high precision polishing robot As presented in the previous section, ECMP is an effec-
with a learning-based hybrid position/force controller for tive method employs a combined effect of the anodic
polishing bottle molds. Yueyan et al. [99] employed the dissolution and mechanical polishing with increased mate-
high-precision fuzzy impedance control method to adjust rial removal rate and small polishing force. For the best
target impedance for free-form surfaces polishing robotic of authors knowledge, conducting ECMP with industrial
arm based on position control. A part from the force con- robotics does not exist in the literature. In order to advance
trol, researchers developed path planning for polishing robot the polishing technology, the authors propose the follow-
in order to obtain optimum polishing results with mini- ing configurations and setups for conducting ECMP with
mum processing time. Tam and Cheng [89] studied how the industrial robots.
different tool paths such as scanning, bi-scanning, Peano,
Hilbert may affect the removal of material in polishing. 4.1 Electrochemical mechanical polishing robotic system
However, in most of the existing robotic polishing appli-
cations, only the mechanical polishing action is employed. Developing an end effector for a robotic ECM polishing
The mechanical polishing tools usually result in relatively systems will improve the quality of the polished surface by
high polishing forces. Because the industrial robotics have taking the advantages of electrochemical action. The pro-
small stiffness compared to CNC machines, it is crucial posed setup for ECM polishing system with robot is shown
to reduce the polishing force to minimize the compliance in Fig. 8. An industrial robot is used to carry a specially

Fig. 9 A proposed
electrochemical grinding with Valve
Articulated
an industrial robot system
Grinding wheel robot
(cathode)
Pump Workpiece
(anode)

Electrolyte
tank

DC
Electrolyte Drain power supply
electrolyte
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1919

Fig. 10 A proposed robotics

electrochemical mechanical Electrolyte
polishing with burnishing force Valve inlet Articulated
system robot
Cathode

Pump Roller Workpiece

(anode)

Electrolyte
tank

Electrolyte Drain DC
electrolyte power supply

designed end effector that employ electrochemical mechan- terminal of the power supply is connected to the conduc-
ical polishing actions in a synergistic way. In the proposed tive bonding material (cathode) while the non-conductive
setup, the cathode is attached to the end effector and con- abrasives are used to separate the anode and the cathode
nected to the negative side of a DC power supply as shown to prevent sparking. A pump feeds the electrolyte from a
in Fig. 8. The positive side of the DC power supply is con- tank through a controlled valve to the workpiece to close the
nected to the workpiece, and it acts as the anode. In order electrolytic circuit as shown in Fig. 9. A low voltage and
to close the electrolytic cell, a pump is used to feed the high current from the DC power supply are applied across
electrolyte inside the end effector which circulate it on the the electrolytic cell. The material removal from the work-
workpiece surface so that the cathode and the anode are con- piece is carried out by anodic dissolution and the subsequent
nected to each other through the electrolyte. When the DC mechanical abrasion. The advantage of this configuration is
power supply is turned on, the electrical charge forces the that no special fixtures will be needed to conduct the polish-
metal ions to dissolve from the anode (workpiece) surface. ing process of workpieces with complex shapes. Hence, the
On the other hand, the mechanical power is used to remove total polishing time and cost will be reduced.
the dissolved metal results from the workpiece dissolution
caused by the electrochemical action through a polishing 4.3 Robotic electrochemical with burnishing force
head of the end effector. Furthermore, in this configuration, system
processing of large size workpiece becomes easier than the
conventional ECG machines due to the large work envelope In order to automate the burnishing process, Shiou and
of the industrial robots. In addition, because of the mechan- Chen [82] introduced the ball-burnishing surface finish
ical reconfigurability of the industrial robots, no special process of a free form surface plastic injection mold on
fixtures for workpieces with complex geometry are needed. a CNC machine. They determined the optimal burnish-
ing parameters for plane burnishing by the Taguchis L18
4.2 Robotic electrochemical grinding system matrix experiments, analysis of variation and the full facto-
rial experiment. The application of the burnishing process
Electrochemical grinding with industrial robots has never with the positioning control of the machine tool is almost
been investigated. This method of ECM polishing automa- restricted to processing curved surfaces because of the dif-
tion must be addressed in order to expand the working ficulty in generating the tool path data [61]. Recently, in
envelope of the conventional ECG machines. Moreover, in order to overcome this problem, Okata et al. [61] developed
this method, processing of workpiece with complex shape a constant thrust force burnishing system for various flat
does not require to be conducted in several stages with spe- and curved surfaces. They employed a spherical 5-degree-
cial fixtures. The proposed setup for this system is shown in of-freedom hybrid parallel mechanism to adjust the thrust
Fig. 9. An articulated robot is used to hold the conductive force in the burnishing process.
workpiece which is positive terminal of a DC power supply In this subsection, we propose a robotic electrochemi-
(anode). The grinding wheel consists of a conductive bond- cal polishing system with burnishing force for free surfaces
ing material with non-conductive abrasives. The negative as shown in Fig. 10. In a similar way to the robotic ECM
1920 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924

Fig. 11 A schematic of
magnetic field effect on (a) (b)
electrochemical polishing: a Cathode Cathode
Conventional electrochemical
polishing and b electrochemical
polishing with a magnetic field.
[17, 20, 35, 88] N S
Anode Anode
Electrolyc ions Ions movement Electrical field Magnec field
Electrolyte Abrasives Before finishing Aer finishing

polishing systems presented in the previous Subsection 4.1 to the anode in straight lines. However, when a magnetic
except the design of the tool will be different. In this setup, field is applied normal to the electrical field, the path of
the tool is a burnishing tool with addition electrochemical the ions becomes curvilinear, instead of linear, due to the
effect. The tool includes a cathode which is connected to co-action of Lorentz force and electrical field force [17,
the negative side of a DC power supply as shown in Fig. 35, 64, 88]. The advantage of this phenomenon is that it
10. In addition, it has an electrolyte inlet to allow the elec- speeds up the dissolution from the side faces of the peaks
trolyte to flow between the roller and the workpiece. The not only from the peaks as in the conventional ECP. In
material removal mechanism is similar to those presented addition, the magnetic field also agitates the electrolytes
in the literature [16, 19, 62, 67]. However, the setup which and creates a further favorable condition for the polish-
has been introduced in the previous literature is limited for ing process. All these actions combined together are called
simple and small workpieces. On the other hand, the pro- the principle of magnetic assisted electrochemical finish-
posed setup can be used for small or large-size workpiece ing process [88]. Kim et al. [35] stated that the relationship
with simple or complex surface. between the magnetic flux density, the electrode gap and
the electrode potential determines the optimal condition
4.4 Robotic electrochemical polishing system at a specific value correlated for the maximum efficiency
with assistive magnetic field of surface finish. This phenomenon has attracted many
researchers to use the magnetic field for certain other pro-
By applying a magnetic field on the electrolyte (in the cesses such as designing of a non-woven abrasive pad [36],
gap between the anode and cathode) of ECP, the path of polishing with magneto-electrolytic abrasives [68], polish-
electrolytic ions is changed as shown in Fig. 11. In con- ing with magnetic compound fluid [22], electroless nickel
ventional ECP, the electrolytic ions move from the cathode or nickel-diamond composite plating on active carbon pow-

Fig. 12 A proposed robotics

electrochemical mechanical Valve End effector
polishing with assistive Controllable
(polishing tool + cathode)
magnetic field system DC source
Articulated
robot
Coil
Pump

Electrolyte
tank
Workpiece
(anode)
DC
Electrolyte Drain
power supply
electrolyte
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2016) 86:1909–1924 1921

der to obtain a mirror finish of Cu plate [105, 106] or to this paper, the fundamental principles of the ECM pol-
improve the process performance as in the case of magnetic ishing technology and the main parameters that affect the
abrasive finishing processes [5, 21]. ECM polishing process such as applied voltage, electrolyte
By taking the advantages of adding a magnetic filed to concentration, rotational speed and polishing pressure are
the ECP system, the authors propose a robotic ECP sys- discussed. In order to advance the ECM technology for
tem with assistive magnetic field. The design is similar to the next competitive stage where a promising quantitative
the design of the system presented in Subsection 4.1 except and qualitative processing is required, we proposed sev-
the tool design should be modified to include a magnetic eral modifications for the conventional ECMP process. The
field source. The magnetic field source can be an electri- proposed modifications include electrochemical mechanical
cal coil with ferrous core with appropriate shape. It should polishing robotic system, robotic electrochemical grind-
provide a controllable magnetic field perpendicular to the ing system, robotic electrochemical with burnishing force
distance between the anode and cathode as shown in Fig. 12. system and robotic electrochemical polishing system with
The proposed method is expected to provide low forces at assistive magnetic field. The advantages of each of the pro-
the robot end effector because most of the material removal posed configuration were discussed. It should be noted that
is carried out by electrochemical action with assist of the the first proposed system is under experimental work where
magnetic field. we have designed a novel end effector that employs elec-
trical, chemical and mechanical energies in a synergistic
4.5 Industrial applications of the proposed robotic way with force control for material removal processes. The
ECMP systems results of the experimental work will be presented in a
separated future work.
The main advantage of the proposed ECMP systems is
that they eliminate the limitations of the corresponding
Acknowledgment The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
conventional systems (e.g. enlarge the working space of of the A*STAR Industrial Robotics Program Science and Engineering
traditional ECG machines and processing workpieces with Research Council Grant number 122510004.
complex shapes instead of flat surfaces in the case of tradi-
tional ECMP machines). In addition, the proposed robotic
ECMP systems reduce the production cost from human
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