Micro Machining of Nonconductive Al2O3 Ceramic on Developed TW-ECSM Setup

Abstract

Advanced ceramic materials are gradually becoming very important for their superior properties such as high hardness, wear resistance, chemical resistance, and high strength to weight ratio. But machining of advanced ceramic like Al2O3-ceramics is very difficult by any well known and common machining processes. Normally, cleavages and triangular fractures generate when machining of these materials is done by traditional machining methods. It is essential to develop an efficient and accurate machining method for processing advanced ceramic materials. For effective machining of Al2O3-ceramics, a traveling wire electrochemical spark machining (TW-ECSM) setup has been developed. The developed TW-ECSM setup has been utilized to machine Al2O3 ceramic materials and subsequently test results are utilized to analyze the machining performance characteristic. Different SEM photographs show the actual condition of the micro machined surfaces. The practical research analysis and test results on the machining of Al2O3 ceramics by developed TWECSM setup will provide a new guideline to the researchers and manufacturing engineers.