Performance Analysis of Electrochemical Micro Machining of Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) Alloy under Different Electrolytes Concentrations

Abstract

Titanium alloy is widely used in modern automobile industries due to its higher strength with corrosion resistance. Such higher strength materials can be effectively machined using unconventional machining processes, especially the electro-chemical micro machining (ECMM) process. It is important to enhance the machining process by investigating the effects of electrolytes and process parameters in ECMM. The presented work describes the influence of three different combinations of Sodium Chloride-based electrolytes on machining Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) alloy. Based on the ECMM process parameters such as applied voltage, electrolytic concentration, frequency and duty cycle on response, characteristics are determined by the Taguchi design of experiments. The highest material removal rate (MRR) was achieved by the Sodium Chloride and Sodium Nitrate electrolyte. The combination of Sodium Chloride and Citric Acid achieve highest Overcut and Circularity. The optimal overcut was observed from the Sodium Chloride and Glycerol electrolyte due to the presence of glycerol. The better conicity was obtained from Sodium Chloride and Citric Acid in comparison with other electrolytes. A Sodium Chloride and Glycerol combination could generate better machined surface owing to the chelating effect of Glycerol.

Keywords

• titanium alloy
• electrolyte
• ECMM
• sodium chloride
• glycerol