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Study on the micro through holes machining using the electrochemical machining (ECM) method with a graphite electrode

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Abstract

Electrochemical machining is widely used in biomedical, aerospace, automotive, and other fields. The development of electrochemical machining (ECM) is restricted by many factors such as the difficulty of preparing micro-electrode, large machined gap and serious stray corrosion. In this paper, we present a method to fabricate micro-holes by combining micro-graphite electrode with hollow structure. Firstly, a sealed graphite electrode was proposed to guarantee that the sediment can be fully removed by the flowing electrolyte. Then, the effect of machined parameters such as the pulse frequency, machined voltage, electrode feeding speed, and electrolyte concentration on machining quality was studied. By optimizing the machined parameters, the minimum value of micro-hole taper with 0.07 could be obtained. To improve the shape precision of workpiece, this paper designed the hollow structure inside the electrode. With the increasing of the pulse frequency, the machining accuracy of micro-holes increased. The results suggested that the pulse frequency of 100 kHz, the machined voltage of 18 V, the feeding speed of 1 µm/s, and electrolyte concentration of 5% were more suitable for micro-holes machining with ECM.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Shenzhen Stable support B Plan (2020081405908002) and Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund of Guangdong Province (2019A1515111115).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of High Performance Nontraditional Manufacturing, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Likuan Zhu, Jinhui Hao, Bin Xu & Bei Wang

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  1. Likuan Zhu
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  2. Jinhui Hao
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  3. Bin Xu
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  4. Bei Wang
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Contributions

Likuan Zhu made the overall plan and provided the fund support. Jinhui Hao conducted the experiments and wrote the original draft. Bin Xu analyzed the result data. Bei Wang revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bei Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zhu, L., Hao, J., Xu, B. et al. Study on the micro through holes machining using the electrochemical machining (ECM) method with a graphite electrode. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 121, 6049–6057 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-09682-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-09682-3

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