Experimental Study of Electrochemical Micromachining on Titanium (Ti–6Al–4V) Alloy

Abstract

Electrochemical machining is an unconventional process where metal removal takes place due to the action of electrochemical process. ECM is used to process extremely hard material which is difficult to machine using conventional machining process. Titanium grade 5 has very good application in aerospace and medical industry. Performing micromachining operation on titanium is very difficult using conventional process. Therefore, electrochemical micromachining is done to perform machining operation with less external force, thus avoiding tool wear. An attempt has been made in this project to optimize the parameters like voltage, electrolyte concentration and frequency to achieve geometric accuracy and better surface finish (Ra). Machined material was scanned using microscopic system to measure conicity and overcut of the drilled hole, and profilometer was used to measure surface roughness of the machined surface to determine the optimum machining parameter. Taguchi Analysis of Variance was performed to determine each parameter influence over material removal rate, circularity and overcut of drilled hole. From the above experimental work, electrolyte concentration plays a vital role among the electrolyte concentration, voltage and frequency in material removal rate, as acidic nature of the electrolyte affects the machining/material removal rate. Voltage ranks first in affecting conicity of the drilled hole among the three input parameters. Optimum input parameters were determined by carrying out S/N ratio analysis with respect to MRR and conicity. A linear regression model was developed with respect to deviation occurrence with the mean, which is also simulated with programming tool to generalize the model development.