Grinding of microgrooves in cemented carbide dies Influence of grinding conditions on groove shape accuracy

Recently, owing to the savings of resource and energy, the use of microchannel chips in micro total analysis systems has attracted attention in the medical field. Generally, microchannel chips are composed of plastic or glass. Glass is stronger than plastic in terms of heat and chemical erosion resistance. However, currently, dies for manufacturing glass microchannel chips are not viable because they are composed of cemented carbide. Therefore, in this study, for manufacturing cemented carbide microchannel chip dies, methods for forming a fine groove by grinding using an electrodeposited diamond wheel are examined. The relationships among grinding condition, surface roughness of the groove bottom face, and deviations in groove shape and depth are clarified by the results.