Fabrication of miniaturised chamber using the electroforming process

The electroforming process is a widely used process for the fabrication of metal parts with complex geometry. During the process, the metal ions are deposited on the mandrel surface to grow the metal part. For a non-conductive mandrel, a conductive coating has to be applied before the electroforming process. In this study, a new combination of mechanical plating and electroforming processes was proposed for the fabrication of an electroformed copper chamber. A miniaturised copper chamber was fabricated using the new fabrication method. After fabrication, the thickness distribution of the electroformed part was measured, and the relative value of thickness was compared with the relative simulated current density using finite difference method values. Optical microscope, SEM images and EDS were used to analyse the porosity and elemental composition of the deposited thickness. Also, the roughness of the inside and outside surfaces was measured and analysed using height roughness parameters and bearing area curve and their combined factors. The results show conformity between the modelled current density and the measured thickness results. Also, two calculative models were presented for electrodeposited mass during the electroforming process. The calculated and measured values were compared. The relatively good compliance was reported.