TOWARDS HIGHER ACCURACY FOR ECM HYBRIDIZED WITH LOW FREQUENCY VIBRATIONS USING THE RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ain Shams University, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo, Egypt.

2 Menoufia University, Faculty of Engineering, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt.

Abstract

Electrochemical machining (ECM) provides a beneficial alternative for machining complex
shapes in advanced materials. However, the relatively low machining accuracy with
difficulties in tool design and electrolyte disposal has limited ECM to become a commonly
used technology. The present work addresses the improvement of machining accuracy in
ECM by hybridizing the process by low frequency vibrations. The study highlights the
development of mathematical models for correlating the inter relationships of various
machining parameters such as applied voltage, feed rate, back pressure and vibration
amplitude on overcut and conicity for achieving high controlled accuracy. This work has been
based on the response surface methodology (RSM),
This investigation also highlights the various test results that confirm the validity and
correctivness of the developed mathematical models for analyzing the effect of the various
process parameters on the overcut and conicity. Experimental results reveal useful
relationships between the low-frequency vibration parameters and the ECM inter electrode
gap and hence the overcut phenomenon. Although the hybridization element seems to be
simple, it has led to a significant improvement in the electrochemical machining accuracy.
The results also indicate that the assistance of low-frequency vibrations to the ECM process
seems to be promising and competitive specially when sculptured surfaces are required to be
produced as found particularly in cavities of dies and also in an industrial era of
miniaturization.

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