Vk. Jain et al., ON THE ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SPARK MACHINING PROCESS, International journal of machine tools & manufacture, 39(1), 1999, pp. 165-186
The electrochemical spark machining (ECSM) process has been proved as
a potential process for machining of low machinability high-strength e
lectrically non-conducting materials, but the mechanism of material re
moval during the process, by and large, is not yet understood. In the
present work, the electrochemical discharge is modelled as a phenomeno
n similar to that which occurs in are discharge valves. This phenomeno
n is used to explain various experimental results, on the basis of cir
cuit and are discharge valve characteristics. The spark energy and the
approximate order of hydrogen gas bubble diameter are computed by the
proposed valve theory. Material removal rate is evaluated by modellin
g the problem as a 3-D unsteady state heat conduction problem. The pro
blem is solved by the finite element method to compute the temperature
distribution which is post-processed for estimating material removal
per spark, overcut obtained in the machined cavity, and attainable max
imum penetration depth. The conclusion drawn is that the application o
f valve theory to the ECSM process seems to be realistic. Estimated ma
terial removal rate, overcut and maximum penetration depth show a good
agreement with experimental findings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.
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