Flow field design and experimental study of electrochemical machining using thin hollow cathodes

Abstract

In order to pursue excellent performance, especially in aerospace and weapon equipment industry, components with complex structure made of difficult-to-cut material (stainless steel, titanium alloy, high-temperature alloy etc.) are more and more applied. From the rough to the finished product, the material removal rate (ranging from 10% to 90%) may be large, the machining efficiency and material utilization are low, and the machining cost would be high using traditional milling or grinding method. One kind of thin hollow cathode having high strength is developed for electrochemical machining of complex structure. This cathode is expected to improve the machining efficiency and reduce the cost. The flow field design is a key problem to be solved. Fluid dynamics numerical analysis is used to optimize the cathode structure, and the design rules of cathode are given. Experiments are carried out to prove the correctness of the numerical analysis, cutting stability, accuracy, and surface quality are improved. Finally, different structures are successfully machined on the material of TB6 by thin hollow cathodes.