A SEMINAR ON ELECTROCHEMICAL SPARK MACHINING

PRESENTED BY: BHAWNA GOKANI III B.TECH ME S.R NUMBER:280/07

CONTENTS
CLASSIFICATION OF UNCONVENTIONAL PROCESSES ELECTRO DISCHARGE MECHINING(EDM) ELECTRO CHEMICAL MACHINING(ECM) ELECTRO CHEMICAL SPARK MACHINING(ECSM) COMPARISON OF EDM , ECM & ECSM PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ECSM EXPERIMENTAL SET UP AT IIT KANPUR CURRENT & TEMPERATURE WAVEFORMS INFERENCES MECHANISM OF THE PROCESS MICROCHANNEL FABRICATION FUTURE POSSIBILITIES & LIMITATIONS CONCLUSIONS

WHAT IS ECSM??

ECSM:ELECTRO CHEMICAL SPARK MACHINING

MANUFACTURING PROCESS
UNCONVENTIONAL TRADITIONAL

MECHANICAL

THERMOELECTRIC (EDM)

ELECTROCHEMICAL (ECM)

HYBRID (ECSM)

EDM:ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING

Working Principle: Powerful spark causing erosion. Advantages:  The melting point, hardness, toughness, brittleness of the material poses no problem. Characteristic surface obtained improves component life. Major limitation: The process cannot be applied to machine non-conducting materials.

ECM:ELECTRO CHEMICAL MACHINING

Working Principle: Faradays classical law of electrolysis. Advantages: Metals and alloys impossible to machine by mechanical means can be machined. MRR is quite high for HSTR materials compared to conventional machining processes. No direct contact between tool and workpiece facilitates least wear, friction generation and heat build-up. Very thin metal sheets can easily be worked out without distortion.
Electro chemical machining cell

ECM:ELECTRO CHEMICAL MACHINING

Typical applications: Machining of hard heat resistant alloys Machining of complex external shapes like that of turbine blades, aerospace components and in electronic industry. Major limitation: The process cannot be applied to machine non-conducting materials.

Schematic of ecsm

ECSM:ELECTROCHEMICAL SPARK MACHINING

ECSM has been defined as An innovative hybrid machining process comprising the techniques of electrochemical machining (ECM) and electro discharge machining (EDM)

HYBRID PROCESS Hybrid processes are those in which two or more machining processes are combined to take advantage of the worthiness of each by overcoming the individual limitations. Example : ECG(electrochemical grinding)=conventional grinding process + electrochemical machining. Similarly : ECSM = ECM + EDM.

COMPARISON OF THE THREE PROCESSES

PROCESS COMPONENTS MECHANISM OF DISCHARGE Not applicable as there is no discharge Breakdown of the dielectric between the electrodes MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL Electrochemic al reaction

ECM

Electrodes and electrolyte Electrodes and dielectric

EDM

Melting and vaporization of the work piece due to electrical discharge Melting and vaporization of the work piece

ECSM

Electrodes and electrolyte

A high electric field in the vicinity of the cathode

WHETHER THE SPARK OCCURS CONTINUOUSLY OR IN SHORT BURSTS??

IN CASE IT IS A BURST PROCESS,DOES THE TEMPERATURE OF THE WORKPIECE RISE QUICKLY IN RESPONSE TO THESE SHORT BURSTS OF CURRENT??

WHAT IS THE ACTUAL MECHANISM OF THE PROCESS??

ECSM

PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
Synchronized measurements of time varying current and temperature have been performed No particular mechanism for the process proposed till date

EXPECTED RESULTS If the discharge is in short bursts  if temperature rise were related to this burst of current

Expected synchronized time varying current and temperature waveform in ECDM process

EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
Exhaust System

Main components Machining chamber ECS cell Exhaust system Control PC Power supply system

Z Assembly

Control PC

Machining Chamber
X-Y Stage Power Supplies

Ref. defense science journal .Kulkarni A.V,vol57,no5,sep2007,pp768

Designed and developed at IIT Kanpur. Exhaust system especially designed and developed to take away the fumes rapidly out of the machining chamber

CURRENT AND TEMPERATURE WAVEFORMS

Snapshots of the stored waveforms of time varying current and temperature respectively taken by a digital camera(upper one for copper and lower one for tantalum). Upper waveform corresponds to current and the lower one shows the temperature. Pyrometer registers the temperature reading only when the temperature of the sensing area is above its sensing limit(here 815 degrees centigrade) When the temperature is above the sensing limit , there is a sharp rise in the temperature pulse. Temperature starts falling due to quenching in ECDM.
Ref.Kulkarni A.V(2009)systematic analysis of ecsmvol 6,nos3/4,pp 197

Scale for current:1V=1A;for temp:0.1V=100degrees centigrade.

RESULTS AND INFERENCES

Each current spike represents occurrence of discharge at the cathode tip followed by the ensuing temperature rise. Thus, discharge takes place in short bursts and there is an instantaneous temperature rise in the work piece surface. If the spark is strong enough, the temperature reached by the work piece surface in that localized region is very high of the order of evaporation temperature of the material. This is generally outside the sensing limit of the pyrometer(shown by the open temperature spike). Thus material removal takes place in that localized region.
Ref.Kulkarni,A.V.(2009)systematic analysis of ecsmvol 6.nos3/4,pp296

RESULTS AND INFERENCES

SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY RESULTS OF THE DISCHARGE AFFECTED ZONE BY SEM

100*magnification for CU surface with 4 prominent discharges striking the work piece. The geometry of the single discharge affected zone is almost circular in nature. Smaller circular zones are due to the low energy discharges striking the surface.
Ref.KulkarniA.V.(2009)systematic analysis of ecsmvol6,nos3/4,pp211

A clear ring pattern is seen Formed by melting and solidification due to quenching at the work piece surface The inner shining spot is due to the removal of material
Ref.KulkarniA.V.(2009)systematic analysis of ecsmvol6,nos3/4,pp211

MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL

The potential drop across the cathode-electrolyte interface appears on application of a DC voltage causing a small ionic current to flow due to electrochemical reaction.

No bubbles

Small ionic current

Hydrogen bubbles evolve as per the reaction at the cathode: 2H2O+2e- = H2 + 2OHSize of bubbles within the interface region grows over the time.

Bubbles formation

Current decreases

Bubbles grow in number

Current further decreases

MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL CONTINUED..

An isolating film of hydrogen gas bubbles covers the cathode tip portion in the electrolyte, abruptly a large dynamic resistance is present and the current through the circuit becomes almost zero

Complete isolation

Current is almost zero

A high electric field (10^7 V/m) gets generated causing discharge within the gas layers covering the tip. At the instant when discharge occurs, a large current flows through the spark channel for a very short duration of time as can be seen by the current spike.

Discharge at the tip

A large current spike due to huge number of electrons created by ionization

MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL CONTINUED..

The bombardment of electrons on the work piece surface results in intense heating and hence metal removal takes place.

SCHEMATIC OF ECSM PROCESS

Anode given positive and cathode negative supply. Critical voltage applied. Spark occurs at the interface of cathode and electrolyte together with the electrochemical reaction.

Workpiece

Energy of spark then utilized for micromachining.

Schematic of ECSM

APPLICATIONS OF ECSM
The process is potentially useful for machining non-conducting materials such as alumina ,quartz , ceramics , composites. Micro fabrication of miniature machine tools for micromachining as in aeronautics, electrical and mechanical engineering. Micro fabrication of array of holes in SU-8 material( high aspect ratio, polymer, dielectric photoresist material) to fabricate micro-filters needed in micro-EDM process. Micro seam welding of copper plates and foils. Fabrication of miniature components. Heat treatment.

COMPLEX SHAPED MICRO CHANNEL FABRICATION

A micron region application of ECSM

Micro channels find use in optical sensing , photonic, and in BioMEMS devices. ECSM acts as an innovative, cost effective , and straight forward process without employing intermediate processing steps for micro channel fabrication. For circle diameter of 2500um each it took 8 minutes of total time to machine the micro channel in the form of 8.

Kulkarni,A.V.(2009)systematic analysis of ecsm,int j.machining,vol6,nos3/4,pp199

MICROCHANNEL FABRICATION CONTINUEDuu

Dial gauge mounted on EDM machine used to measure the depth of micro channels at various locations.

photograph of the depth measurement set-up

close-up of the tip of the dial gauge on the work piece under measurement

microstructure of the micro machined glass surface at 1000* magnification. Visible cracks are formed due to the impact of the sparks. Dimensions of cracks are of the order of few tens of micrometers.

WIDTH , DEPTH AND HAZ MEASUREMENTS

Results of micro channels fabricated on glass substrate
NaOH Conc % Avg. Max Dia Avg.MinDia Avg Width Junction . Avg Width circle, (Avg HAZ) Avg. Depth of Channel, m Photograph

Left Circle -

At Junction 110

Right Circle 70

14

2300

1650

198

150 (279)

16

140

120

18

2342

1602

344

175 (210)

70

140

80

20

2850

1442

50 (?)

107 (562)

240

340

270

MEASUREMENTS CONTINUEDu..
MICRO CHANNEL MEASUREMENT RESULTS FOR V=50V ON GLASS WORKPIECE
NaOH Conc % Avg. Max Dia Avg. MinDia Avg. Width Junction Avg WidthCircle Avg. Depth of Channel, m Photograph

Left Circle

At Junction

Right Circle

14

2280

1614

320

125 (265)

75

100

50

16

2514

1516

182

120 (383)

130

180

120

18

2240

1658

394

145 (280)

140

100

110

20

2308

1572

254

127 (481)

235

400

115

FUTURE POSSIBILITIESuu.
Extension of the process for layered deposition and hence for micro fabrication are being studied .Multi layer deposition of the desired shape and size can result in the evolution of micro fabrication of miniature structures.

ED samples with air as medium and copper wire of 0.2 mm dia as work piece.ref V.K.Jainmicrofabrication using ecsmdefense science journal.vol57,no.5.sept2007,pp766

Flowing electrolyte ECSM can also be researched for further improvements. Both machining and deposition process are in infancy for the industrial purposes.

LIMITATIONSuu.
Beyond a certain value of electrolyte temperature , ECSM performance starts deteriorating.

Since a high voltage greater than that in ECM is required to produce the spark , therefore the process is potentially useful and cost effective mainly for non-conducting materials and machining in the micron region.

CONCLUSIONSu.
The discharge in ECSM is a discrete phenomenon. Synchronized study of the process revealed that the discharge temperature rise is due to bombardment of electrons generated during the discharge process. When the discharge temperature is of the order of boiling temperature of the work piece material, metal removal takes place. ECSM can be performed in the micron region and the dimensions can be further reduced by reducing the geometry of the cathode tip and by careful design of process parameters. The process is a stand alone process requiring no other intermediate steps as masking, pattern transfer, passivating. It is a competitive process in the sense that the machining time required to have a complex micro channel is very small. Hence , its a potential candidate for micro machining in a cost effective manner.

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