Study of Pulse Electrochemical Machining Characteristics

The Pulse Electrochemical Machining (PECM) promises to improve dimensional accuracy control and to simplify tool design in machining hard, high strength, and heat resistant materials into complex shapes such as turbine blades. This paper presents a mathematical model for the PECM process which takes the non-steady physical phenomena in the gap into consideration. A specially-built PECM cell and a high-speed data acquisition device are used to obtain accurate experimental results in the gap for the model verification. The interelectrode gap characteristics, Including pulse current, metal removal rate, effective volumetric electrochemical equivalent and electrolyte conductivity variations, are analyzed based on the model and experiments.