The effects of the process parameters in electrochemical machining on the surface quality

Abstract

Based on the number of previous studies, this study aims to investigate the effects of process parameters of an Electrochemical Machining process, which are electrolyte concentration, the voltage applied to the machine, feed rate of the electrode, and Inter-Electrode Gap between tool and workpiece. Aluminum samples of 25 mm diameter x 25 mm height and 30mm diameter x 25mm height of the tool is made up of copper with a circular cross-section with 2 mm internal hole. The design of the system is based on the Taguchi method. Here, the signal-to-noise (S/N) model, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses are applied to determine optimal levels and to investigate the effects of these parameters on surface quality. Finally, the experiments that use the optimal levels of machining parameters are conducted to verify the effects of the process parameters on the surface quality of the products. The results pointed out a set of optimal parameters of the ECM process. The Inter-Electrode Gap between the tool and workpiece has extremely effected on these Material Removal rates and surface roughness. The Material Removal Rate increases with diseases in Inter-Electrode Gap, and Ra diseases with diseases in Inter-Electrode Gap. The experimental results show that maximum Material Removal Rate has obtained with electrolyte concentration at 100 g/l, feed rate at 0.0375 mm/min, the voltage at 15V, and Inter-Electrode Gap at 0.5mm. The minimum Ra has obtained with electrolyte concentration at 80 g/l, feed rate at 0.0468 mm/min, the voltage at 10V, and Inter-Electrode Gap at 0.5mm. This result has led to need studies on these parameters in Electrochemical Machining, which are improving productivities and surface roughness of the products.