Topography measurement-integrated non-immersion CRECM: Process design and experimental investigation

Abstract

Counter-rotating electrochemical machining (CRECM) offers significant advantages for manufacturing large thin-walled rotary components. However, conventional immersed flow fields face critical challenges such as byproduct accumulation, uncontrollable stray corrosion, and the absence of real-time monitoring. To address these issues, this study is the first to propose a non-immersion flow field process for CRECM, integrated with an topography measurement system for real-time monitoring. The optimized flow field design overcomes the limitations of conventional configurations and creates favorable conditions for in-situ process control. Flow field simulation and experimental results show that the dual-side alternating electrolyte supply mode achieves the best performance, with a surface roughness of 1.2 μm, a material removal rate of 6.14 cm³/min, and reduced rib symmetry deviation from 0.13 mm to 0.02 mm. The integrated topography measurement system provides real-time monitoring of surface profiles and corrosion depth d, facilitating mechanism analysis, early detection of deviations, and minimizing errors caused by offline inspection and re-clamping. Monitoring results reveal that rib asymmetry becomes significant under single-side electrolyte supply when rib height exceeds 0.5 mm.This synergy effectively resolves the long-standing challenge of "blind machining–passive scrapping" and provides a viable solution for high-efficiency, high-precision machining of rotary components.