scholarly journals Influence of Different Tool Electrode Materials on Electrochemical Discharge Machining Performances

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1077
Author(s):  
Islam Md. Rashedul ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Kebing Zhou ◽  
Guoqian Wang ◽  
Tianpeng Xi ◽  
...  

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) is an emerging method for developing micro-channels in conductive or non-conductive materials. In order to machine the materials, it uses a combination of chemical and thermal energy. The tool electrode’s arrangement is crucial for channeling these energies from the tool electrode to the work material. As a consequence, tool electrode optimization and analysis are crucial for efficiently utilizing energies during ECDM and ensuring machining accuracy. The main motive of this study is to experimentally investigate the influence of different electrode materials, namely titanium alloy (TC4), stainless steel (SS304), brass, and copper–tungsten (CuW) alloys (W70Cu30, W80Cu20, W90Cu10), on electrodes’ electrical properties, and to select an appropriate electrode in the ECDM process. The material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear ratio (EWR), overcut (OC), and surface defects are the measurements considered. The electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity of electrodes have been identified as analytical issues for optimal machining efficiency. Moreover, electrical conductivity has been shown to influence the MRR, whereas thermal conductivity has a greater impact on the EWR, as characterized by TC4, SS304, brass, and W80Cu20 electrodes. After that, comparison experiments with three CuW electrodes (W70Cu30, W80Cu20, and W90Cu10) are carried out, with the W70Cu30 electrode appearing to be the best in terms of the ECDM process. After reviewing the research outcomes, it was determined that the W70Cu30 electrode fits best in the ECDM process, with a 70 μg/s MRR, 8.1% EWR, and 0.05 mm OC. Therefore, the W70Cu30 electrode is discovered to have the best operational efficiency and productivity with performance measures in ECDM out of the six electrodes.

Author(s):  
Manpreet Singh ◽  
Sarbjit Singh

Electrochemical discharge machining has been proved to be efficient micro-machining process and significantly used for the machining of non-conductive materials. The miniaturized products have gained advantages in Lab-on-a-chip devices and microelectromechanical system because of advancement in technology. The challenge to produce micro features has been suitably addressed by electrochemical discharge machining and emerged as potential contender in generating micro holes and micro channels on electrically non-conductive materials. This article includes state-of-art review on different domains of electrochemical discharge machining, which includes work piece, electrolyte, behaviour of tool electrode, gas film formation, machining quality along with recent hybridizations in electrochemical discharge machining process. The conclusion focuses or summarizes the future research trends for enhancement of electrochemical discharge machining efficiency and tackles problems encountered in machining.


Author(s):  
Baoyang Jiang ◽  
Shuhuai Lan ◽  
Jun Ni

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) is a non-conventional micromachining technology, and is highlighted for non-conductive brittle materials. However, the outcomes of ECDM have many restrictions in application due to limitations on efficiency, accuracy, and machining quality. In this paper, a drilling incorporated ECDM process is presented and analyzed to enhance material removal rate in ECDM drilling process. Incorporating micro-drilling into ECDM significantly increases the rate of material removal, especially in deep hole drilling. As fundamentals of the machining process, material removal mechanisms have been investigated to account for the increment in material removal rate by incorporating micro-drilling. Vibration of tool electrode, induced by a piezo-actuator, was introduced to further enhance material removal rate. Quantitative studies were conducted to determine the appropriate process parameters of drilling incorporated ECDM with tool vibration.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douyan Zhao ◽  
Hao Zhu ◽  
zhaoyang zhang ◽  
Kun Xu ◽  
Jian Gao ◽  
...  

Abstract As a nontraditional processing technology, Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) can precisely process glass and engineering ceramics. This technology has proven to be a potential process for glass 3D microstructure. However, the key to expanding the application of ECDM is how to improve machining accuracy. This research conducted micro-hole and microgroove machining. The influence of power voltage and frequency on hole processing efficiency, hole entrance diameter and hole limit depth explored. We considered four factors affecting ECDM–the voltage and frequency of the pulse power supply, the tool electrode feed rate, and the rotation speed. We studied their influence on the roughness of the microgrooves. The results show that machining efficiency, entrance diameter and limit depth of micro-holes increased with the increase in voltage, but decreased with the increase in power frequency. The results show that the roughness of microgrooves has an obvious positive correlation with the power voltage, while it had an obvious negative correlation with the power frequency and the electrode speed. The bottom surface roughness of microgrooves can be as small as 0.605µm. Various complex 3D microstructures on the glass surface by layer-by-layer method, which proved the great potential of ECDM.


2010 ◽  
Vol 154-155 ◽  
pp. 794-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Jang Lin ◽  
Yan Cherng Lin ◽  
A Cheng Wang ◽  
Der An Wang ◽  
Han Ming Chow

This study investigates the feasibility of EDM for processing ZrO2 and Al2O3 of non-conductive ceramics, which were covered by an assisted conductive material, an adherent copper foil, on the workpiece surface. The conductive material adhered on the surface of the non-conductive ceramics would induce a series of electrical discharges between the tool electrode and the workpiece in the initial stage of the EDM process. Thus, the pyrolytic carbon that cracked from kerosene was formed and deposited on the machined surface to maintain the progress of EDM. In this work, the essential EDM machining parameters were varied to determine the effects on material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR), and surface roughness. The stability of EDM progress and the surface integrities of ZrO2 and Al2O3 machined by EDM were also investigated. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility and development of an applicable process for processing non-conductive ceramics through EDM. Moreover, the exploitation of this work can be applied to industrial applications and used to develop machining techniques for non-conductive ceramics.


Author(s):  
VG Ladeesh ◽  
R Manu

The electrically non-conductive materials like glass, ceramics, quartz, etc. are of great interest for many applications in modern industries. Machining them with high quality and at a faster rate is a challenging task. In this study, a novel technique called grinding aided electrochemical discharge drilling (G-ECDD) is demonstrated which uses a hollow diamond core drill as the tool for performing electrochemical discharge machining of borosilicate glass. The new hybrid technique enhances the material removal rate and machining accuracy to several folds by combining the thermal melting action of discharges and grinding action of the abrasive tool. This paper presents the experimental investigation on the material removal rate during G-ECDD of glass while using different electrolytes. An attempt has been made to explore the influence of electrolyte temperature on G-ECDD performance by maintaining the electrolyte at different temperatures. Experiments were conducted using three different electrolytes which include NaOH, KOH, and the mixture of both. The results obtained from this study revealed that an increase in temperature will favor chemical etching as well as electrochemical reaction rate. Also, it was observed that heating the electrolyte leads to an increase in the bubble density and enhances the ion mobility. This causes the formation of gas film at a faster rate and thereby improving the discharge activity. Thus, machining will be done at a faster rate. Better results are obtained while using a mixture of NaOH and KOH. From the microscopic images of the machined surface, it was observed that material removal mechanism in G-ECDD is a combination of grinding action, electrochemical discharges, and chemical etching. Response surface methodology was adopted for studying the influence of process parameters on the performance of G-ECDD. The new technique of grinding aided electrochemical discharge drilling proved its potential to machine borosilicate glass and simultaneously offers good material removal rate, repeatability, and accuracy.


2012 ◽  
Vol 523-524 ◽  
pp. 328-331
Author(s):  
Kensei Kaneko ◽  
Ken Yamashita ◽  
Yasushi Fukuzawa

AlN ceramic materials have high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation, prompting consideration of their use as a semiconducting material. Although AlN should be machined with a high accuracy of form and dimension to achieve products and components with requisite precision, mechanical and other machining methods such as the micro blasting technology or laser method cannot be used because of the brittleness and high thermal conductivity of AIN. Recently, we have succeeded in machining many insulating ceramics by EDM with the assisting electrode method. We have already machined many insulating ceramic materials such as Si3N4, ZrO2 and Al2O3. However, inferior machining characteristics were obtained with AlN than with other materials. In this study, the effects of several electrical discharge conditions were examined to obtain better machining properties, such as high material removal rate and a low electrode wear ratio. It was found that machining time decreased with an increase in capacitance, while the electrode wear ratio increased. In addition, the machining hole profiles were straight along the depth direction, and the shape of holes was non-tapered


2013 ◽  
Vol 589-590 ◽  
pp. 505-510
Author(s):  
De Zheng Kong ◽  
Qin He Zhang ◽  
Xiu Zhuo Fu ◽  
Ya Zhang

Micro Electrical discharge machining (Micro-EDM) is a non-traditional concept of machining. It is very suitable for machining micro parts of Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS). However, the application of micro-EDM is restricted for its own shortcomings such as poor material removal rate and high electrode wear ratio etc. In order to overcome this shortcoming, a new piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM (PSMEDM) is developed based on inverse piezoelectric effect of piezoelectric ceramics and its working mechanism and characteristics have been analyzed in this paper. This machining method can realize the self-tuning regulation of discharge gap depending on the discharging conditions, facilitate removing the debris in the machining gap, reduce the occurrence of arcing and shorting and can realize the self-elimination of short circuits, thus the machining efficiency can be improved drastically. The tool electrode wear ratio (EWR) in machining is studied in this paper. Many experiments have been done and the effects of parameters on electrode wear ratio have been analyzed. Experimental results indicate that: 1) The EWR will rise with the increase of open-circuit voltage and main capacitance in circuit because the increase of open-circuit voltage and capacitance result in increase of single discharge energy. 2) The effect of resistance R1 on EWR is light. With the increase of resistance R1, the EWR will decrease slightly. 3) With the increase of resistance R2, the EWR will decrease firstly and then becomes to increase.


2011 ◽  
Vol 295-297 ◽  
pp. 1794-1799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shao Fu Huang ◽  
Di Zhu ◽  
Yong Bin Zeng ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Yong Liu

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM), based on electrochemical machining (ECM) and electrodischarge machining (EDM), is an unconventional micro-machining technology. In this paper, with the use of water, the process of micro hole on ANSI 304 stainless steel machined by micro-ECDM with high speed rotating cathode is studied. The effects of machining conditions such as the cathode rotating speed and cathode diameter on the surface quality and accuracy of the shape are investigated. The results indicate that a relatively higher electrode rotating speed can improve the machining accuracy of the micro-holes and reduce the electrodes wear.


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