Experimental investigation of rotary sinking electrochemical discharge milling with high-conductivity salt solution and non-pulsed direct current

Electrochemical milling is a modified technique of traditional electrochemical machining(ECM)that can be used to manufacture some helicopter transmission system parts.The use of rotary tools and an inner-jet electrolyte supply pattern can greatly improve the material removal rate(MRR)in a single pass.However,the feed speed is generally limited to minimize the tool wear.To increase the MRR,electrical discharge machining(EDM)is introduced into the electrochemical milling process.The tool rotation is employed to interrupt the discharge and the high-conductivity salt solution and non-pulsed direct current power supply are also adopted to increase ECM,eventually,a new machining method is proposed,which can be called rotary sinking electrochemical discharge milling(RSECD milling).The mechanism of it is explored in this study by analyzing the machined current,MRR,surface morphology,and tool wear at different applied voltages and feed speeds.Besides,the RSECD milling using the tool with a larger diameter is also conducted to further verify the effectiveness.In particular,the MRR can be increased by 742.5%when using the tool with a diameter of 20 mm at the applied voltage of 20 V.

Improving surface integrity of micro-holes in ECDM using ultrahigh-speed rotary of tool cathode and non-water-based electrolyte

The surface integrity of metal micro-hole structures produced by electrochemical discharge machining is unsatisfactory owing to the insufficient reaction area and strength of electrolysis action.A novel ultrahigh-speed Rotary Electrochemical Discharge Machining(R-ECDM)using non-water-based electrolyte is proposed to improve surface integrity by changing the breakdown medium of spark discharge and increasing the reaction area and strength of electrolysis.A mathematical model was developed to establish the relationship between rotational speed and forces acting on the bubble.Based on the magnitude of forces,controlling rotational speed changed the behavior and departure radius of bubbles on the cathode surface.High-speed photographs validate that,in the mathematical model,the number and departure radius of bubbles on the cathode surface gradually decrease with the increase of rotational speed.The experimental results show that the roughness(Ra)of the micro-hole sidewall decreases from 2.54μm to 0.20μm when the rotational speed increases from 500 r/min to 40000 r/min.The length loss and wear ratio of the cathode are only 9.75μm and 6.5%,respectively.Finally,the micro-holes array with recast-free and surface roughness of 0.20μm is fabricated,demonstrating that the proposed approach contributes to improving surface integrity of metal micro-holes.