Investigation of anode shaping process during co-rotating electrochemical machining of convex structure on inner surface

A novel co-rotating electrochemical machining method is proposed for fabricating convex structures on the inner surface of a revolving part.The electrodes motion and material removal method of co-rotating electrochemical machining are different from traditional electrochemical machining.An equivalent kinematic model is established to analyze the novel electrodes motion,since the anode and cathode rotate in the same direction while the cathode simultaneously feeds along the line of centres.According to the kinematic equations of the electrodes and Faraday’s law,a material removal model is established to simulate the evolution of the anode profile in co-rotating electrochemical machining.The simulation results indicate that the machining accuracy of the convex structure is strongly affected by the angular velocity ratio and the radius of the cathode tool.An increase of the angular velocity ratio can improve the machining accuracy of a convex structure.A small difference in the radius of the cathode tool will cause changes in the shape of the sidewalls of the convex structure.The width of the cathode window affects only the width of the convex structure and the inclination a of the sidewall.A relation between the width of the cathode window and the width of the convex structure was obtained.The formation process for a convex structure under electrochemical dissolution was revealed.Based on the simulation results,the optimal angular velocity ratio and cathode radius were selected for an experimental verification,and 12 convex structures were simultaneously fabricated on the inner surface of a thin-walled revolving part.The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results,which verifies the correctness of the theoretical analysis.Therefore,inner surface co-rotating electrochemical machining is an effective method for fabricating convex structures on the inner surface of a revolving part.

Analysis and control of inter-electrode gap during leveling process in counter-rotating electrochemical machining

The inter-electrode gap(IEG) is an essential parameter for the anode shaping process in electrochemical machining(ECM) and directly affects the machining accuracy. In this paper, the IEG during the leveling process of an oval anode workpiece in counter-rotating ECM(CRECM)is investigated. The variation of the minimum IEG is analyzed theoretically, and the results indicate that rather than reaching equilibrium, the minimum IEG in CRECM expands constantly when a constant feed speed is used for the cathode tool. This IEG expansion leads to a poor localization effect and has an adverse influence on the roundness of the machined workpiece. To maintain a small constant IEG in CRECM, a variable feed speed is used for the cathode based on a fitted equation. The theoretical results show that the minimum IEG can be controlled at a small value by using an accelerated feed speed. Experiments have been conducted using a specific experimental apparatus in which the cathode tool is designed as a combined structure of two sectors and a thin sheet. By detecting the machining currents flowing through the minimum IEG, how the latter varies is obtained indirectly. The results indicate that using an accelerated feed speed is effective for controlling the IEG, thereby improving the roundness of the machined workpiece.

Evolution of convex structure during counter-rotating electrochemical machining based on kinematic modeling

Counter-rotating electrochemical machining(CRECM)is a novel electrochemical machining(ECM)method,which can be used to machine convex structures with complex shapes on the outer surface of casings.In this study,the evolution of the convex structure during CRECM is studied.The complex motion form of CRECM is replaced by an equivalent kinematic model,in which the movement of the cathode tool is realized by matrix equations.The trajectory of the cathode tool center satisfies the Archimedes spiral equation,and the feed depth in adjacent cycles is a constant.The simulation results show that the variations of five quality indexes for the convex structure:as machining time increases,the height increases linearly,and the width reduces linearly,the fillets at the top and root fit the rational function,and the inclination angle of the convex satisfies the exponential function.The current density distributions with different rotation angles is investigated.Owing to the differential distribution of current density on workpiece surface,the convex is manufactured with the cathode window transferring into and out of the processing area.Experimental results agree very well with the simulation,which indicates that the proposed model is effective for prediction the evolution of the convex structure in CRECM.

Electrochemical behavior of Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V alloy under rotating condition with periodically fluctuating current density

Titanium alloy plays a crucial role in the electrochemical field due to its excellent corrosion resistance.The passivation and dissolution behaviors of Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V(TA15)alloy in Na Cl solution were studied by simulating the electrochemical machining process in a rotating condition,which made the anode in a state with alternating high and low current density.Electron probe micro analysis,ultra-depth microscope,scanning electron microscope,and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer were used to reveal the evolution of TA15 under fluctuating current density.The existence state of the passivation film on TA15 surface was closely related to the pulse frequency of the periodically fluctuating current density.At higher pulse frequency of 0.20 Hz,the material was hardly dissolved because passivation dominated the electrolysis behavior,while at lower pulse frequency of 0.01 Hz,the passivation and dissolution behaviors occurred alternately with the variation of the current density.Herein,the thickness of the passivation film was inversely proportional to the applied current density.Due to the different electrochemical characteristics of a phase andβphase,the surface of the TA15 changed from being smooth to porous after a period.In addition,the change of microstructure affected the content of O^(2–)and exposed the suboxides of titanium.In a word,the change of pulse frequency and current density affected the electrochemical behavior of TA15,which was different from the conventional steady condition.

Electrochemical machining of a convex strips structure on a revolving part by using site directed power interruption

Revolving parts with complex surface structures are widely used in machinery and mechanical equipment. The ECM process provides its adequacy to cut hard materials with different shapes, and its applications are widely increased, due to its outstanding advantages. In this paper, a new method for machining a convex strips structure on a cylinder by using site directed power interruption（SDPI） in the ECM process is presented. A variable correction value of the power-off time was defined and optimized to obtain the ideal interval for better machining accuracy and stability.The electric field distribution and the simulated convex profiles show that the stray current density can be reduced effectively by using the proposed method. The correction value has an important influence on the machining accuracy. A suitable correction value in the range of 0.6–1.2 s can effectively improve the machining accuracy of the convex strips structure. Experiments were also conducted to verify the proposed method. Results have confirmed that the stray corrosion on the convex strips surface is significantly reduced and the machining accuracy of convex strips structure is remarkably improved by using the proposed method with a suitable correction value in the ECM process. Finally, a convex strip with a height of 2 mm on a thin-wall revolving part was also produced successfully using a correction value of 0.9.