Performance characteristics of electrochemical micro machining of tungsten carbide

Abstract

Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) is still an evolving process and a more number of research wants to be carried out to improve metal removal rate (MRR), surface finish and precision with optimization of its various process parameters. In the present work tungsten Carbide material, which is conventionally used as a tool for drilling, cutting, armour plating and surgical equipment is taken for studying the performance characteristics of EMM. However, its machining is very difficult by conventional machining processes due to its high hardness and wear resistance properties. The major purpose of this study is to find out MRR, surface roughness and over cut on machining Tungsten carbide using NaNO3 as an electrolyte in EMM. The process parameters that are to be varied in this study are concentration of electrolyte, tool feed rate and applied voltage. From the results of the experiment, optimized by Taguchi grey multi-response optimization technique the optimum input parameters are detected. The optimized parameters found for the EMM of tungsten carbide are the concentration of electrolyte 20 g/l, a tool feed rate of 0.9 μm/min and applied voltage of 9 V. It can be inferred from the results obtained that the feed rate of tool has a greater influence on the EMM process.