Enhancing MRR and accuracy with magnetized graphite tool in electrochemical micromachining of copper

Micro hole is the fundamental feature found in any device/components. Hence this paper aims to produces the micro holes using electrochemical micromachining (EMM). The existing machining techniques in EMM for creating micro holes are associated with more overcut (OC). Hence, it is very essential to reduce OC and enhance the machining rate (MR). This paper aspires to investigate the effect of graphite electrode with magnetic force on copper plate. Four different tools namely electromagnetic graphite tool (EMGT), permanent magnet graphite tool (PMGT), graphite tool and stainless steel (SS) tool are employed for these experiments. The major influencing factors are machining voltage in volts, duty cycle in % and electrolyte concentration in g/l was considered on MR and OC. The results exposed that EMGT, PMGT and graphite electrodes produce MR of 106.4%, 74.6 % and 44.5 % over SS tool at parameter level of 23 g/l, 15 V, and 85% respectively. Graphite and EMGT electrode resulting in 11.9% and 3.41 % reduced OC respectively than SS tool at parameter level of 8V, 95% and 28 g/l. Additionally, scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture examination is conducted to identify the magnetic field effect on the work surface.