Tool for submicron groove

[kenrkenr]

Hi,
I have 0.5um thick layer of a soft polymer on the OD of a polished titanium drum and am looking for a tool to put a 0.5um wide V-groove through the polymer to the titanium base. Only the bottom 0.5um of the tool/blade will be used. There will be very little pressure on the tool. It will ride up and down on the drum OD. The drum will rotate beneath the tool. Does anyone know where I can source a blade/tool that might work for this application?
Thanks,
Ken

 

[MikeHalloran]

Most tools are not that sharp.
Have you even got a way to measure the edge radius?

I've heard rumors that some surgeons prefer knives made from chipped/fractured obsidian, but I've never seen a modern one, and I'm not convinced that producing an edge as sharp as you want is possible even in that material.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[kenrkenr]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for responding. We make a relief of the groove and visualize it under SEM. I'm going to try obsidian, but am afraid that its brittle and will probably chip against the titanium base as we rotate the drum. I am hoping to find a less brittle blade material, like a metal, that can be sharpened to a ~250 nm tip radius.
Ken

 

[MintJulep]

Glass microtome blades are made simply by snapping a microscope slide cover glass.

Not sure of the edge thickness, but certainly cheap and easy to replace.

 

[ornerynorsk]

All promotional material must be taken with a grain of salt, but a possible lead for you to follow:

http://info.liquidmetal.com/blog/bid/289868/Liquidmetal-Blades-Knives-and-Other-Sharp-Things

"Therefore, a blade geometry with a 200 um (0.2 mm) radius on the cutting edge of the blade could be easily molded today in Liquidmetal alloy, followed by a simple grind, etch, or other technique to finish the edge to the customer’s specification."

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Nevermind, just spotted my own error. An interesting material, nonetheless.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.