PARAMETRIC INVESTIGATION OF ECM PROCESS WITH DUAL POLE TOOL

Abstract

Electrochemical Machining (ECM) is one of the latest and also one of the most useful non-traditional machining processes. ECM is one of the best alternatives for producing complex shapes in advanced materials used in aircrafts and aerospace industries. As far as the metal removal rate and surface roughness are concerned, ECM is a satisfactory process. However, the reduction of stray removal of material continues to be a major challenge for industries in addressing accuracy improvement. Many attempts have been made to reduce stray removal of metal. The tool has been modified by using an insulation on the side walls that suppresses the electric field in the side region between the tool and work. The latest step in this direction is the use of a "dual-pole tool". In a dual pole tool; a metallic bush is fitted on -the insulated coating of the cathode tool. The bush is connected with anode so that the electric field at the side gap area is substantially weakened. In the present dissertation work, a. dual pole tool has been designed and fabricated along with_the un-insulated as well as insulated tools. Experiments have been conducted with all the tools under identical experimental circumstances so-as to compare the effect of each tool on "taper of hole" and MRR. From the observations the dual pole tool showed the least taper in the holes made. In, the next stage, several experiments have been conducted with dual pole tool -using Design of Experiments technique. Using three factors namely voltage, feed, and flow rate, three responses were studied. These responses are MRR (metal removal rate), surface roughness, and taper. Finally, the regression models were developed for the three responses in terms of voltage, feed, and flow ,rate with the help of Design Expert.software.