The Electrochemical Machining(ECM) process is modeled as a two dimensional potential problem including property changes of the electrolyte. Because the workpiece shape changes as machining progresses, an incremental formulation is used with an automatic mesh regeneration. The conductivity of the electrolyte is also updated based on the result of the previous step.
The transient workpiece shapes for prescribed electrochemical conditions and process parameters are calculated and equilibrium stationary configurations are obtained as their limits. The effect of process parameters such as flow velocity, feed speed and applied voltage on the stationary workpiece shape is studied. A flat tool perpendicular to the feed direction, a complex shaped tool and curve shaped tools are used for numerical examples. The final shapes of workpieces and gaps were examined with respect to several process parameters. Due to the increase of conductivity in the downstream, the gap becomes larger there. It is mostly influenced by flow velocity and the process parameters studied. On account of the complex nature of the process of metal removal and interaction of several parameters, the finite element method for the analysis of workpiece shape in ECM seems to be a suitable approach in handling especially the inhomogeneity due to conductivity redistributions.
