Pulse dynamic regulation of electrochemical discharge milling by utilizing the slotted tube electrode

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) has a splendid application potential for machining difficult-to-cut materials. It is a challenge to limit and control the discharge energy and area of DC power supply in ECDM. Owing to the uncertainty and randomness of the position and range of the single discharge, the unpredictable discharges deteriorate the surface quality of the workpiece, alter the size of the inter-electrode gap (IEG), and influence the distribution of the multi-physical fields. Therefore, to regulate the machining state and energy, the ideology of pulse dynamic machining is introduced, and a method of pulse dynamic ECDM utilizing the slotted electrodes is proposed. With the tool electrode rotating, the tube electrode transforms the pure electrochemical machining (pure-ECM) stage and the electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) stage periodically through the slots at the bottom of it. The machining current waveform, surface roughness and sidewall taper of machined grooves, material removal rate (MRR), and relative tool wear rate (RTWR) are investigated. Additionally, the discharge types of the ECDM are explicitly defined and statistically classified. The experimental results show that the pulse dynamic regulation of hybrid machining using the slotted electrodes is beneficial to regularize the machining current waveform and optimize the machining quality.