Electrochemical trepanning with an auxiliary electrode

Abstract

Electrochemical trepanning (ET) is one of the main methods for processing the blisks in aero-engines. However, stray corrosion in ET has a very negative impact on the machining quality of the blades. This paper proposes an innovative ET method with an auxiliary electrode surrounding the inner wall of the cavity above the cathode. Two-dimensional electric-field models are established and simulations are carried out with the auxiliary electrode at different positions and different electric potentials. The electric-field simulations show that adding the auxiliary electrode reverses the directions of the current lines in the processed area, thereby protecting it. The results show that when the distance from the bottom of the auxiliary electrode to the top of the cathode tool is 3 mm and the potential difference between the auxiliary electrode and the anode workpiece is 5 V, the area corroded by stray current is decreased. Experiments are performed under the parameter values determined by the simulations, and they confirm that this method is effective at reducing stray corrosion. Specifically, at a feed rate of 2.5 mm/min, the blade taper angle is decreased from 1.37° to −0.09°, the thickness of the leading and trailing edges is increased from 0.307 mm to 0.704 mm, and the average surface roughness is decreased from Sa =8.239 μm to Sa=7.028 μm.