CAD/CAM System of Micro-WEDM for a Micro-Air Journal Bearing Fabrication

The fabrication of a micro air journal bearing for micro gas turbine engine is investigated based on CAD/CAE and CAM in this paper. Numerical simulation of the aerodynamic micro air bearing is conducted to investigate the bearing load capacity. Then, a removal analysis and contouring strategy of accurate micro-WEDM processing for the air bearing is conducted based on CAM postprocessor. The extended and trimmed tool path is adopted for micro-WEDM. The inner and outer diameter of the bearing is 1.068mm and 1.165mm, respectively. The radius of the bearing corner is 15.9µm, and the height is 53µm.The satisfactory workpiece shape illustrates that the CAD/CAM integrated system is accurate and useful in micro-structures machining.