Tool design in electrochemical machining considering the effect of thermal-fluid properties

The effect of thermal-fluid properties are considered in the numerical simu lation of the tool shape for a given workpiece shape in electrochemical mac hining. An embedding method is used for this inverse problem. A bubbly two- phase, one-dimensional flow model and a one-phase, two-dimensional flow mod el are applied to predict the fluid field of the electrolyte, respectively. Results show that the void fraction is the most important factor in determ ining the electrolyte conductivity and the shape of the workpiece. The prop er machining conditions and numerical parameters are important to obtain a good solution. The relative error can be reduced under 0.002.