Transient simulation of electrochemical machining processes for
manufacturing of surface structures in high-strength materials
Abstract
Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a method for removing metal by anodic
dissolution. At the interface between the workpiece surface and an
electrically conductive fluid (electrolyte), the material is dissolved
locally without direct physical contact to the cathodic tool. Due to the
force-free nature of the process, ECM is used for machining
high-strength or hard materials, such as titanium aluminides, Inconel,
Waspaloy, and high nickel, cobalt, and rhenium alloys.1 However,
determining suitable process parameters remains challenging due to their
interacting effects on working distances during the machining process.
Therefore a simulation-based approach to process design substantially
reduces resource and time investment to achieve the desired geometry of
the finished part. This methodology requires data about the materials
electrochemical properties, such as removal velocity and current
efficiency, which have to be obtained experimentally. In this study, a
methodology for acquiring and processing this data as well as the
development of multiphysics simulation models is presented for two use
cases: (i) manufacturing a centrifugal impeller with a diameter of 14 mm
consisting of the nickel alloy Inconel 713C for use in turbomachinery
and (ii) the generation of a defined surface micro structure into the
novel Mg-Y-Zn alloy WZ73.