Tooling Design for ECM—A Finite Element Approach

Abstract

Over the last few years several models have been suggested for analytical design of tools used in electrochemical machining of complex shaped workpieces. However, little success has been achieved in this direction. This is due to complex nature of interaction between the electrochemical machining parameters and lack of clear understanding of the mechanism of metal removal. This paper reports about the application of Finite Element Technique (FET) to design analysis of ECM tools. The results obtained have been compared with the experimental data and a good correlation has been observed. The paper also discusses in detail the computational aspects.

Stray current attack and stagnation zones in electrochemical drilling

“…18 is based on the assumption that the current density J remains constant over an element of small length (dx) and for a small interval of time, ∆t. This equation yields values of y which agree well with the experimental data [11].…”

“…Different researchers [8][9][10][11][12] have also developed numerical methods for determining anode shape and/or tool design in ECM. Review of the literature has revealed that they have not analyzed the stray current attack and stagnation zones (Fig.…”

Electrochemical machining of metals: Fundamentals of electrochemical shaping

“…The inverse problem of electrochemical shaping with the aid of a shaped tool was considered in many works [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], which is connected with extensive practical use of this scheme and the importance of the perfection of calculation methods for designing costly tools of intricate shapes. The ECM of sculptured surfaces by an unshaped tool started to be developed only in the last few years, in particular, when performing electrochemical micromachining (ECMM).…”

Experimental Study of Anode Shape Prediction in Through Mask Electrochemical Micro Machining

“…Step by step procedure followed for anode shape prediction is as follows [14]  Decide whether the analysis to be made is one, two or three dimensional.  Collect all the initial data in the proper units and, if necessary, preliminary computation (for example, flow velocity from the volumetric flow rate) is also done.…”

“…Analytic approaches are used for tooling design such as the cosθ method [4,5], the complex variables method [6], and Semi-analytical and numerical techniques include the boundary elements method (BEM) [7][8][9][10], the finite difference method (FDM) [11][12][13], the finite volume method (FVM) and finite element method (FEM) [14,15]. The models used may greatly vary in terms of complexity.…”