Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Thermal and chemical processing of

materials (ME 323)

Lecture 4: Electrochemical machining (ECM)

processes

Dr. Gurminder Singh

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

2 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical Machining (ECM)

• Popular “room temperature ” NTM for “hard-to-machine” conductive
materials
– Titanium aluminides, Inconel, high nickel and cobalt alloys
• Based on controlled atomic dissolution of a conductive material by
electrochemical action of supplied electrical energy
• Amount of material removed depends upon the current

3 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Applications of ECM
Bone screws – nickel based
alloy

Features etched by ECM in Tungsten Turbine blades

Gears made by ECM in Nickel based alloy

4 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical machining

5 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical machining - setup

6 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical machining – Important features

• Work material must be electrically conductive
• Electrolyte – conductive medium between cathode and anode
• When work-piece is connected to anode, the electrochemical reactions
will etch the material
• Used for hard-to-machine materials like Inconel (Ni-Cr super alloy),
tungsten, tungsten carbide. Smooth burr-free material removal
• Very popular in automotive and aerospace applications such as
machining of gas turbine blades, turbocharger rotor
• Also reverse-ECM or electrodeposition is frequently used for thin
interconnects deposition in semiconductor / MEMS industry

7 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical machining
• Three main parts of ECM:
• Tool (cathode): brass, copper, bronze, stainless steel
• Work piece (anode) ….
• Electrolyte (medium)…
• A dc voltage (10-25 v) is applied across the gap between a pre-shaped
cathode tool and an anode workpiece.
• The workpiece is dissolved by an electrochemical reaction to the
shape of the tool.
• The electrolyte flows at high speed (10-60 m/s) through the gap (0.1-
0.6 mm) to dissipate heat and wash away the dissolved metal ions.
• Metal ions are washed just before they have a chance to plate on the
tool ( cathode)

8 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Electrochemical machining: introduction and analysis

• Reverse of the electroplating process with minor modification.

• Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis:

• Amount of any material dissolved or deposited, is proportional to the quantity

of the electricity passed.
• Amounts of different substance dissolved or deposited by the same quantity of
electricity are proportional to the chemical equivalent weights.

• Material removal in ECM is achieved through controlled Fig.: Electroplating.

anodic dissolution of workpiece.
• Workpiece is made as anode and tool electrode is made
as cathode. At the anode, the metallic workpiece (M)
undergoes oxidation thereby releasing the electrons.
• Besides anodic dissolution, gas evolution takes place in
electrolytes.
• At the cathode, water from the electrolyte dissociates
into hydroxyl ions and hydrogen evolution takes place.
2𝐻20 + 2𝑒 − → 2𝑂𝐻 − + 𝐻2 ↑
• Hydroxyl ions react with metallic ions produced during
anodic reaction and precipitate as sludge.

Ref. : Saxena et al., International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 2018.

9 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Material Removal Rate

Faraday’s law in quantitative form
𝒎 𝛼 𝐼𝑡𝜀
𝒎 is the weight of material dissolved in g (grams)
𝑰 is the current in A (amperes)
t is the time in s (second)
𝜺 is the gram equivalent weight of the material (atomic
weight (M) by valency (Z))
𝐼𝑡𝑀 𝐼𝑀 𝐼𝑀 Alloy
𝒎 𝛼 𝐼𝑡𝑀 𝒎= 𝒎ሶ = 𝑄=
𝐹 𝐹 𝜌𝐹
𝑭 is the Faraday’s constant (96500 coulombs), 𝑄 is the material removal rate in volume
For alloy
The removal rate can be found by the considering the charge required to remove a unit volume of
each element. Let 𝑨𝟏 , 𝑨𝟐 , …….. 𝑨𝒊 and 𝒁𝟏 , 𝒁𝟐 ,………….. 𝒁𝒊 are the atomic weights and the valency's of
each elements, and composition of alloy is 𝒙𝟏 % of element 1, 𝒙𝟐 % of element 2,………… 𝒙𝒊 % of
element i, then volume 𝝂 cm3 of the alloy contains 𝝂𝝆𝒂𝒗 𝒙𝒊 /100 gram of ith element, 𝝆𝒂𝒗 is the overall
density of alloy. Therefore, the total charge required is
𝑛 The volume of the alloy removed per unit charge is
𝜈𝜌𝑎𝑣 𝑥𝑖 𝑍𝑖 𝐹 100 1
෍ 𝑄= ( )
100𝐴𝑖 𝜌𝑎𝑣 𝐹 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 𝑍𝑖 Τ𝐴𝑖
𝑖=1
Ref. : Manufacturing Science Ghosh and Mallik

10 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Material Removal Rate

The composition of the Titanium alloy is given below. The current of 2800 A
is passed for ECM process. Calculate MRR using higher valency of
dissolution for each element

Ti Cr Cu Fe Mg Mn Si Al Zn

Composition (%) 80.1 8.2 4 2.1 0.93 2.01 0.47 0.9 Bal

Density (g/cm3) 4.51 7.19 8.96 7.86 1.738 7.43 2.33 2.67 7.13

Atomic weight 47.9 51.99 63.57 55.85 24.31 54.94 28.09 26.97 65.37

Valency of
3/4 2/3/6 1/2 2/3 2 2/4/6/7 4 3 2
dissolution

Ref. : Manufacturing Science Ghosh and Mallik

11 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Voltage drop between electrodes

• Some part of the applied electrical potential is used to overcome the

overpotential near the electrode surface (typically <10%)
• Electrode potential (V),
• Over-potential (V)
• Activation polarization, concentration polarization, Ohmic
overvoltage
• Net ohmic voltage (V - V) is used in material removal

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Kinematics and Dynamics

• The work (upper electrode) is being fed with a f
Electrolyte
constant velocity ‘f’ in the direction –y (normal flow with
to the electrode surface). velocity Work
• For pure metal workpiece, removal rate is 𝑸 = 𝒗 y 𝑉
y z
𝑨𝑰/𝝆𝒁𝑭 Tool
• If the overvoltage is ∆𝑉 and 𝜅 is conductivity, the
Fig.: Kinematic scheme x
density of the current flow through the
electrolyte is given by:
𝜅 (𝑉 − Δ𝑉) Electrolyte obeys Ohm’s law
𝐽= 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅
𝑦
𝐿
• The removal of work material causes the surface of the 𝑉 = 𝐼𝜌𝑟
𝐴
workpiece to recede with respect to the original surface with 𝑉
=
𝐼
velocity by 𝑄′, where 𝑄′ is the volume rate of workpiece metal 𝐿𝜌𝑟 𝐴
removal per unit area of the workpiece surface. The rate at
(𝑉 − Δ𝑉)𝜅
which the gap between the work and tool changes is 𝐽=
𝑦
𝑑𝑦 𝐴𝐽
𝑄 = 𝐴𝐼/𝜌𝑍𝐹 𝑄/𝐴 = 𝐼/𝜌𝑍𝐹 =
𝑑𝑡 𝜌𝑍𝐹
𝑑𝑦 𝐴𝐽 𝑑𝑦 𝐴𝜅 (𝑉 − Δ𝑉) 1 𝑑𝑦 𝜆
= −𝑓 = −𝑓 = −𝑓
𝑑𝑡 𝜌𝑍𝐹 𝑑𝑡 𝜌𝑍𝐹 𝑦 𝑑𝑡 𝑦
Ref. : Manufacturing Science Ghosh and Mallik
Basic equation of dynamic of ECM process

13 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Kinematics and Dynamics

y (t)
For zero feed
𝑑𝑦 𝜆
Let f = 0 =
𝑑𝑡 𝑦
If the initial gap is 𝑦0, the solution of the equation is y0

𝑦 2 = 𝑦0 2 + 2𝜆𝑡 𝑦= 𝑦0 2 + 2𝜆𝑡 Time (t)

Fig.: Gap variation with zero speed.

• The gap will increase with increasing the machining time until the dissolution is
insignificant
For constant feed
𝑑𝑦 𝜆
= −𝑓
𝑑𝑡 𝑦
• It is necessary to establish the feed rate because if f is high compared to rate of change
of gap, then the short circuit will result in stoppage of electro chemical reaction. Hence
to establish a reaction for feed a steady state condition of electro chemical reaction is
𝑑𝑦
to be established. (i.e. = 0) 𝜆
𝑑𝑡
𝑓= where 𝑦𝑒 is the equilibrium gap
𝑦𝑒
Ref. : Manufacturing Science Ghosh and Mallik

14 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Kinematics and Dynamics

Use scale independent or non-dimensional quantities

𝑦 𝑓𝑦 𝑡 𝑓 2𝑡
𝑦ത = = 𝑡ҧ = =
𝑦𝑒 𝜆 𝑦𝑒 /𝑓 𝜆
Therefore,

𝑓
𝑑 𝑦ത 𝜆
𝑑𝑦 1 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦ത 1 𝜆 1
= 2 = = −𝑓 = −1
𝑑 𝑡ҧ 𝑓
𝑑𝑡
𝑦 𝑑𝑡 𝑑 𝑡ҧ 𝑓 𝑦 𝑓𝑦/𝜆
𝜆
𝑑𝑦ത 1 𝑑 𝑦ത
= −1 − 𝑑𝑦ത = 𝑑𝑡ҧ
𝑑𝑡ҧ 𝑦ത 1 − 𝑦ത

By integration,

𝑡ҧ = 𝑦ത − ln 1 − 𝑦ത + 𝐶
With initial condition, 𝑡 = 0, 𝑡ҧ = 0, 𝑦ത = 𝑦ഥ0,

𝑦ഥ0 − 1 Fig.: Gap characteristics.

𝑡ҧ = 𝑦ഥ0 − 𝑦ത + ln
𝑦ത − 1 • Gap will always approaches the equilibrium
value irrespective of the initial condition.

Ref. : Manufacturing Science Ghosh and Mallik

15 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

• A 10 V DC supply is used to machine an iron plate using ECM

operation. A 0.2 M NaNO3 is used as the electrolyte, whose
conductivity is 0.2/ Ω cm. If the inter-electrode gap used is 300 µm,
calculate the etch rate.

• A 10 V DC supply is used to machine an iron plate using ECM

operation. A tungsten tool of diameter 1 mm is used to make a slot by
scanning the tool over the workpiece with a speed of 10 m/s. A 0.2 M
NaNO3 is used as the electrolyte, whose conductivity is 0.2/ Ω cm. If
the inter-electrode gap used is 300 µm, calculate the height of the slot.

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

17 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Heat removal during ECM process

• As the high current (𝐼) passes through a resistive electrolyte (say
resistance 𝑅) in the interelectrode, temperature of the electrolyte
increases due to the Joules heating (𝐼2𝑅)
– Electrolyte starts boiling, which will affect the process
– Resistance R will depend upon the conductivity of the electrolyte
and the gap
• Cooling in the machining zone is provided by the electrolyte
– Higher electrolyte flow rate (𝑉’), higher cooling action
• Permissible temperature rise in the electrolyte should be below the
boiling point of the electrolyte
• Heat input due to joules heating (I2R)= heat required to increase the
temperature [𝑉’𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑒(𝑇𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑙 − 𝑇𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚)]

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Parameters affecting MRR

19 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Pros and Cons of ECM

• Pros:
– Excellent surface finish as material is removed atom by atom
– Little surface damage to the workpiece,
– No burrs as in conventional machining,
– Low tool wear (the only tool wear results from the flowing
electrolyte),
– Relatively high metal removal rates for hard and difficult-to-
machine metals like Inconel, high-nickel alloys, titanium
• Cons:
– Workpiece must be conductive
– Significant cost of electrical power to drive the operation,
– Problems of disposing of the electrolyte sludge

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

ECM related research @ IITB

21 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Microtool fabrication by controlled ECM

• Workpiece: Conical & cylindrical

needle
• Electrolyte: 5% NaCl (% wt.)
• Continuous DC
• Immersion depth: 10 mm

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Tool electrodes at varying ECM parameters

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Fabricated tool electrodes

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Thermal and Chemical Processing of Materials

Use of fabricated tool electrodes in ECDM

25 Gurminder Singh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay