Experimental Research On Low Speed Traveling Wire Electrochemical Machining

Wire electrochemical machining (WECM) is a nontraditional machining process in which thewire acts as the cathode and the conductive materials are dissolved by anodic electrochemicalreactions at atomic sizes, theoretically. The profile of the workpiece can subsequently be obtained asthe desired contour by controlling the workpiece feeding trajectory via the motion control system. Themain research works of this paper are as follows:(1) The characteristics of high-aspect-ratio WECM were analyzed and the reciprocatingtraveling wire electrode was introduced to conquer the difficulties occurred in the high-aspect-ratioworkpiece machining process with the WECM.(2) Experimental setup was developed for low-speed traveling WECM, in which the axialtraveling of the wire electrode is achieved by the wire storage cylinder. The controlling program wasdesigned to control the machining trajectory of the workpiece, and monitor the machining current.Additionally, the data base for the processing parameters of WECM was established in order tofacilitate the management and the application.(3) Experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of different parameters on theaverage high aspect ratio slit width and standard deviation of the slit width, such as wire travel speed,electrolyte concentration, pulse voltage, pulse duty ratio, pulse frequency, and workpiece feeding rate.The optimal processing parameters were obtained, as well.(4) By using the obtained optimal processing parameters, a micro structure with aspect ratio upto113was successfully processed in the20mm thick stainless workpiece, which had good surfacequality and slit width homogeneity.