Recent developments in automation and technology have revolutionized the way products are made. It is directly seen in the evolution of part miniaturization in the sectors such as aerospace, electronics, biomedicine and medical implants. Micromachining is a promising technology to fulfill the need of miniaturization. A review has been done on the micromachining processes such as micro electric discharge machining (micro-EDM) and wire EDM (WEDM), micro electrochemical machining (micro-ECM). Recent literature were studied and categorized in terms of materials, process parameters, performances, product manufactured, and miniature product generation. Starting with brief introduction to micromachining, classifications and applications, technical aspects of discussions from the literature have been presented on key factors such as parameters and the response variables. Important aspects of recast layer, heat effected zone, micro-hardness, micro cracks, residual stress, etc., have been given. A special focus is given to the status of the research on microgear manufacturing. Comparison has been made between other conventional process suitable for micro-gear manufacturing and WEDM. The miniature gear machined by WEDM shows the defect-free microstructure, better surface finish, thin recast layer and improved gear quality parameters such as profile and pitch. Finally, the research gaps and future research directions have been presented.

New materials require the use of advanced technology in manufacturing parts of complex shape. One of the modern non-conventional technology of manufacturing difficult to cut materials is the wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The article presents the results of theoretical and experimental research in the influence of the WEDM conditions and parameters on the shape deviation during a rough cut. A numerical model of the dielectric flow in the gap (ANSYS) was developed. The influence of the dielectric velocity field in the gap on the debris evacuation and stability of WEDM process was discussed. Furthermore, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to build empirical models for influence of the wire speed Vd, wire tension force Fn, the volume flow rate of the dielectric Qv on the flatness deviation after the WEDM.

The intend of current study was focused on the prediction of material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) for the AA7050-SiO₂ composite during wire electric erosion or discharge machining (WEDM) process using a brass (Br) wire electrode. Here, stir casting process was employed to develop the AA7050 matrix composite with inclusion of 10wt.% SiO₂ particle reinforcement. The multi-objective optimization method of Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach has been applied to find out the optimal setting of input machining parameters such as peak current (I_p), pulse-on time (T_on) and pulse-off time (T_off). Furthermore, the significant effects of parameters were identified by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Taguchi L9 (3³) orthogonal design has been formulated to perform the experimental work. TOP SIS results stated that the optimal setting of I_p at 30 amps, T_on of 130 μs and T_off of 55 μs provide the better MRR with lesser SR. The ANOVA results noticed that I_p has the prime noteworthy parameter over the adopted responses having a contribution of 45.67%, followed by T_on (32.34%) and T_off (12.26%), respectively. The confirmation test was carried out by the optimal parameters setting to verify the predicted results. Finally, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test was carried out for the machined surface of the composite specimen and it was reveals that the formation of craters and recast layer thickness in the machined surfaces.