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Electrochemical micromachining (EMM) has become a popular technology for fabricating microscale structures. To obtain higher machining localization and minor stray corrosion, a new hybrid EMM process combining air assistance and ultrasonic assistance was introduced in this paper. Simulations and experimental investigations were conducted to study the influencing mechanism and the influencing characteristics of the assisting process energies. In the multi-physics model, a reactant transport model is included, and the direct coupling between the assisting processes and the electrochemical process is achieved. Results indicate that, when the two assisting processes are applied separately, the assisting effect tend to act on the entire workpiece surface, either promotes the overall dissolution or inhibits it, usually leading to unsatisfactory results; by combining the two assisting processes, synergistic effect occurs: dissolution in the central area is promoted by the ultrasonic assistance, while stray corrosion in the margin area is hindered by the air assistance. Thus, microstructures with enhanced aspect ratio and reduced stray corrosion can be fabricated. The results also show that the surrounding airflow can produce an electrical insulating effect on both the workpiece and the cathode. When the air pressure is low, an additional concentrating effect on the electric field can be observed; however, a high air pressure leads to a greatly hindered dissolution. When the applied amplitude is appropriate, ultrasonic assistance promotes the electrochemical dissolution through disturbance effect and cavitation phenomena. But if the amplitude is too large, massive cavitation bubbles will inhibit the dissolution greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microdimples as a typical surface texture has been widely used for improving the properties in tribology and heat transfer fields. Ultrasonically assisted electrochemical micromachining (USEMM) is a popular method for generating microdimples as it can reduce the overcutting and enhance electrolyte renewal to improve the machining localization and promote the material removal. However, the fundamental understanding of the process and particularly the relationship between the machining performance and gap pressure is limited. In this paper, radial ultrasonicrolling electrochemical micromachining (RUREMM) is employed to generate microdimples on SS304 surface. Effects of gap pressure on the material removal rate, machining accuracy, and roughness are studied and discussed in detail. Results show that RUREMM can fabricate the microdimples and the existing ultrasonic vibration in the inter-electrode gap is more effective to enhance the machining performance. By using the selected parameters in RUREMM, the current density during machining has a 6.6% increase in RUREMM than in EMM. Moreover, the width of the microdimple is decreased by 14.6%, the depth of the microdimple is increased by 19.2%, the cross-sectional area of the machined dimple is expanded by 31.2%, the roughness of the bottom is decreased 23.9% and also, better surface quality for the side wall could be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical drilling (ECD) is a useful method to produce small holes with a large aspect ratio on hard-to-machine materials. Recently, instead of using an acid electrolyte, more and more research has focused on neutral salt electrolytes because they are less harmful to the environment. However, more problems have been caused to the removal of waste products, especially in deep-hole drilling. Traditionally, an electrolyte flow with constant pressure control is adopted in ECD, which might result in the poor removal of waste products at depth because of pressure loss. In this paper, an ECD method with a constant electrolyte flow has been proposed to obtain a consistent ability to remove insoluble waste products from machining gap. Experiments of ECD with both constant electrolyte pressure and constant flow are conducted on workpieces of Inconel 718. Machining currents and the profile of machined holes are compared between the two methods. The results show that when a constant electrolyte flow rate is applied, the machining currents are much smoother and the profile of machined holes is also uniform. In addition, the pressure variation in the constant flow method increases linearly with machining depth. ECD with a constant flow also has an increased feed rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]