Fabrication of high-aspect-ratio and hierarchical micro/nanostructure arrays by a novel piezoelectrically actuated cutting system

Micro/nanostructure arrays have been broadly applied in numerous industrial fields, such as optics, antibacterial fields, and anti-corrosion. However, the highly efficient fabrication of micro/nanostructure arrays, especially the high-aspect-ratio and hierarchical micro/nanostructure arrays, remains a challenge. Motivated by this, the study designs a novel piezoelectrically actuated (PA) cutting system for fabricating this kind of micro/nanostructure array. First, the mechanical structure of the PA cutting system is designed based on the circular flexure hinge. Then, a finite element model is established to analyze its resonant frequencies and mode shapes. Next, to determine the working performances of the PA cutting system, a performance test platform is built. Finally, various micro/nanostructure arrays with two features of the high-aspect-ratio and the multilayer are fabricated, demonstrating the effectiveness and flexibility of the PA cutting system. Besides, the function of machined micro/nanostructure arrays about the corrosion property was investigated. This study provides a new approach for fabricating high-aspectratio and hierarchical micro/nanostructure arrays, which can be applied in industrial manufacturing and corrosion protection fields.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).