Effect On Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless Steel-316 With Cu Electrode
Effect On Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless Steel-316 With Cu Electrode
Abstract: Electrochemical Machining process is one of the ECM is a non-contact type machining process, and it gives
popular non-traditional machining processes which is used to exact replica of the tool, a cavity in the job material. In this
machine materials such as super alloys, Ti-alloys, stainless steel machining process [1] and [2] a very high current is passed
etc. Its working principle is based upon Faraday law of among the job (anode) and the tool (cathode) through a
electrolysis. The aim of the present work is to optimize the ECM
electrolyte and a cavity (as the shape of the tool) is obtained
process parameters with the combination of SS 316 (job material)
and Copper electrode (tool material). To explore the effect of in the workpiece. EDM has been found to be a better for
ECM process parameters such as electrolyte concentration, smaller batch sizes whereas ECM is more suitable for large
voltage and current, feed rate on MRR and surface finish (Ra) of scale production [3].
the job, total 27 experiments were conducted as per experimental One of the researchers, Neto J., et. al. [4] results showed
scheme. The results of these experiments revealed that increase that feed rate is the important factor which affects the
in electrolyte concentration decrease the mrr and surface material removal rate. In ECM process, NaNO3 showed the
roughness initially increases then decreases. Further, increase in
current increases mrr initially and then decreases, surface
good results on surface roughness and overcut. Also it had
roughness also increases. It is also noticed that increase in Feed been observed that material removal rate increases with
rate mrr decreases and then increases, also surface roughness increase in tool feed rate because of the decrease in
decreases then increases. Through RSM analysis it is found that machining time. Further, Sodium Chloride had better
the optimum conditions for maximum MRR, and minimum machining results on MRR than Sodium Nitrate as NaCl
Surface roughness (Ra) is electrolyte concentration 150gm/lit, solution is a non-passivated electrolyte and has constant
Voltage 13.5 V & feed 0.8 mm/min. The findings are discussed in current efficiency. In another research, Milan Kumar Dasa,
the light of previous researches and subsequently conclusions are et.al. [5] ANOVA results revealed that the electrolyte
drawn.
concentration has the maximum influence on metal removal
Keywords: Electrochemical machining (ECM), Material rate and surface roughness characteristics. Further, P.
removal rate (MRR), Surface roughness (Ra), Electrolyte
concentration Rodriguez et. al. [6] observed that when current intensity is
increases, it directly affects the material removal rate and as
I. INTRODUCTION material removal rate is increases surface finish on the other
hand decreases in the ECM process. Therefore there should
Electro-chemical Machining (ECM) is a nontraditional be a balance in between material removal rate and the
machining process which is used for machining materials surface finish.
which are difficult to machine by traditional machining Also Kai Egashira et.al. [7] suggested that a semi-
processes such as alloy steel, Ti alloys, super alloys and cylindrical tool electrode, long pulse width, high pulse
stainless steel etc. Literature review revealed that many frequency, high low-level voltage, and high electrolyte
studies were conducted in the past by various researchers to concentration were preferable for high-speed drilling
evaluate the effect of ECM process parameters such as without widening the lateral gap between the tool electrode
electrolyte concentration, current and voltage, surface finish, and hole. Ming-Chang Jeng et al. [8] showed that the
material removal rate (MRR), tool and workpiece gap material removal rate & current efficiency increases with
current and voltage etc. for its optimization with different carbon content. Also the quenched microstructure and the
materials. tempered microstructure have a greater removal rate and
current efficiency than those of annealed microstructures,
2
work-piece machined at a working pressure of 3-4 kg/cm
Manuscript published on November 30, 2019.
has the greatest removal rate and current efficiency, and the
* Correspondence Author roughness of the machined surface of the annealed
Iqbal Ahmed Khan*, M.Tech Student, Department of Mechanical microstructure is greater than those of the quenched and
Engineering, Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India tempered steels.
E-mail: khaniqbalahmed@yahoo.com
Another study of Joao Cirilo da Silva et.al. [9] concluded
Megha Rani, M.Tech Student, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India that resistance offered by electrolyte arrangement decreases
Rupak Kumar Deb, Department of Mechanical Engineering, stridently with increasing current densities, and at the same
Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India time the over-voltage of framework first increases and then
B R Bundel, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lingaya’s
achieves a saturation value with increasing current
Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India
densities.
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DOI:10.35940/ijrte.D6817.118419
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Effect on Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless Steel-316
with Cu Electrode
In any job the primary requirement is surface finish of the Work Piece (SS 316)
job, a study was conducted by the ECM Machine
Keeping this in mind the present experimental work is Electrolyte
focused on “Optimization of ECM process parameters for Electrode
maximum material removal rate (MRR), and minimum Weighing Machine
surface roughness (Ra) for the stainless steel (SS-316) as a Surface Roughness Tester
job material and a Copper (Cu) electrode as a tool material. The detail information all of the above mentioned
components are given below.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SET UP .
For experimental work these constituents are required;
2.1 Specifications of SS 316:
Table 1: Composition Specification (%) for SS 316
Grade C Si P S Mn Cr Ni N Mo
Min. - - - - - 16 10 - 2.0
SS 316
Max. 0.08 0.75 0.045 0.030 2.0 18.0 14 0.10 3.0
Figure 2: ECM set up Metatech Industries, Pune Figure 3: ECM Control Panel
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International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-4, November 2019
The Control panel (Figure 3) is used for adjustment of 2.4 ELECTROLYTE CIRCULATION SYSTEM
voltage (V), current (C), feed rate (F) and time (T) during
machining of the SS jobs. The specifications of control The pumping of electrolyte (Figure 4) is done from a tank
panel are as follows; through a pump. The used electrolyte returns to the tank.
Electrical Output Rating: 0-300 Amperes. DC from 0-20 The hydroxide sludge produced will settle down at the base
V. of the tank and further drained out. Also electrolyte supply
is controlled by flow control valve. For experiments we
Efficiency: Better than 80% at partial & full load
have taken 100 gm, 125 gm and 150 gm of salt sample in
condition.
1000 ml of water at room temperature.
Operation Modes - Manual/Automatic.
Figure 4: Electrolyte chamber Figure 5: Circular cross section of the copper tool
2.6 ELECTRODE OR TOOL
For machining of SS 316 jobs, copper tool (Figure 5) is used having a length of 50 mm with diameter 21mm.
Figure 6: Digital weight balance ( Model: DJ 300S) Figure 7: Surface Roughness Tester
2.7 WEIGHING MACHINE
2.9 PROCEDURE FOR THE EXPERIMENT
The material removal rate of each job has been found out
Following steps are involved in machining of workpiece and
by electronic weighing machine (figure 6). Initial weight
completion of experiment:
and after machining of the SS jobs were measured by
weighing machine by taking care of jobs i.e. all jobs must a. Weigh the initial weight (Wbm) of work piece.
be free from water, chips etc. This weighing machine b. Place the job in ECM Machine
weight up to 300g with an accuracy of 0.001 g. c. Fix the Cu electrode in ECM tool holder
d. Now Copper Tool is brought near to the SS 316 job and
2.8 SURFACE ROUGHNESS TESTER maintains a particular gap with the help of press buttons
which are provided in the control panel.
A moveable type surface roughness tester (Make: Taylor e. Fill the electrolyte solution in Tanks and run the pump
Hobson, Model: Surtronic,) as shown in figure 7, has been f. Start the ECM machine through push button and set the
used for measurement of surface roughness (Ra) of the process parameters like tool feed rate, voltage and
machined SS 316 jobs. The readings are taken at three electrolyte concentration.
points on the surface and take average value of it.
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Effect on Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless Steel-316
with Cu Electrode
g. The procedure is happening in the existence of an j. Calculate MRR for the experiment.
electrolyte flow, filling the gap between anode (job) k. Calculate the SR with help of surface roughness tester
and cathode (tool). Electrolyte flow is adjusted by flow l. Repeat all above steps from a. to k. for taking
control valve. experimental values Output (i.e. MRR & SR) &
h. After completion of ECM on a job (after 10 minutes) a varying Inputs (i.e. Electrolytic concentration, Voltage
beep sound is produced. And stop the Machine. and Feed Rate) on the remaining 15 experiments
i. After electrochemical machining on the SS 316 job note
down the weight (Wam) of the workpiece.
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International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-4, November 2019
After experimental work results are obtained, which are shown in Table 4
Table 4: Experimental outcomes for 27 runs
Std Concentration Voltage Feed MRR Ra
3
Order ( gm/liter ) ( volts ) ( mm/min) (mm /min) (μm)
1 100 10 0.4 12.25 2.22
2 100 10 0.6 7.66 2.16
3 100 10 0.8 9.19 2.18
4 100 13.5 0.4 15.32* 2.37
5 100 13.5 0.6 8.65 1.70
6 100 13.5 0.8 8.99 2.04
7 100 17 0.4 9.23 2.52
8 100 17 0.6 7.19 2.24
9 100 17 0.8 7.87 3.64
10 125 10 0.4 9.58 2.21
11 125 10 0.6 7.27 1.42
12 125 10 0.8 8.42 1.82
13 125 13.5 0.4 14.87 2.64
14 125 13.5 0.6 7.45 2.44
15 125 13.5 0.8 13.56 3.24
16 125 17 0.4 9.58 2.86
17 125 17 0.6 5.58 2.46
18 125 17 0.8 7.58 2.66
19 150 10 0.4 6.90 2.20
20 150 10 0.6 6.60 1.20
21 150 10 0.8 7.50 1.34
22 150 13.5 0.4 14.42 2.91
#
23 150 13.5 0.6 6.85 0.94
@ @
24 150 13.5 0.8 10.64 1.93
25 150 17 0.4 6.20 2.72
26 150 17 0.6 5.96 2.22
27 150 17 0.8 6.08 3.22
This finding is not in line with the past researches such as
IV. EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS
studies [10, 11] concluded that the increase in electrolyte
4.1 Effect on Material Removal Rate concentration and its flow rate, increases mrr. This is occur
because of when we increase in electrolyte flow rate, the
The machinability of ECM process depends on the
reaction products (small chips) in between Inter-electrode
electrolyte concentration, feed rate and voltage. The
gap (IEG) removes at faster rate with electrolyte
influence of various machining parameters on material concentration and also fresh electrolyte flow in between
removal rate (means) are revealed in figure 9 (a) (b) (c). The IEG, which increases the conductivity of the electrolyte.
important and major finding is material removal rate is
Therefore in the future more work has to be done
gradually decreases (Figure 9a) with increase in electrolyte
specifically in combination with SS316 and Cu as tool
concentration. This might be due to there is no increase in
material.
electrolyte flow as a consequence the material which is
already removed cannot be dislocated taken away from the
machining area. So eventually mrr is decreased with
increase in the electrolyte concentration.
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Effect on Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless Steel-316
with Cu Electrode
Further, Figure 8(b) showed that the material removal rate that resistance of the electrolyte solution decreased rapidly
increases noticeably with increase in voltage in the range with increase in current. Further, initially, the over-voltage of
of 10 to 13.5 V and, then further decreases from 13.5 to 17 the system increases and attains a saturation value with
V. A similar study of Mukherjee et. al . [12] observed increasing current densities.
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International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-4, November 2019
[14].
Figure 10(a): Effect of Electrolytic Concentration on SR (data means)
Further, Figure 9 (e) revealed that the surface roughness decreases with increase in feed rate in the range 0.4 to 0.6
(Ra) increases gradually with increase in voltage. Also and then increases in the range of 0.6 to 0.8.
figure 10(c) depicted that the surface roughness (Ra)
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Effect on Material Removal Rate and Surface Finish in ECM Process When Machining Stainless
Steel-316 with Cu Electrode
4.3 DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM SOLUTION Ota Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Kyoto Institute of
Technology, Goshokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto
By combining all the objectives, we obtained a multi- 606-8585, Japan Precision Engineering 54 (2018)338–343
objective optimization relation, Min.(Z1) = W1 Zsr 8. [8] Ming-Chang Jeng, Ji-Liang Doong and Chih-Wen Yang:
/SRmin- W2Zmrr / MRRmin The effects of carbon content and microstructure on the metal
removal rate in Electrochemical Machining, Journal of Materials
The optimum conditions for maximum MRR, and Processing Technology, 38 (1993) 527-538.
minimum Surface Roughness (Ra) is: 9. S.K. Mukherjee, S. Kumar, P.K. Srivastava, Arbind Kumar: Effect
Electrolyte concentration 150gm/lit, Voltage 13.5 V & of valance on material removal rate in electrochemical machining
feed 0.8 mm/min of aluminum journal of materials processing technology 2 0 2 (2 00
8) 398–401
10. Liu, J. W., Yue, T. M., and Guo, Z. N.. Wire electrochemical
V. CONCLUSIONS discharge machining of Al2O3 particle reinforced Aluminum Alloy
6061. Material Manufacturing Process, 2009, 24: 446-53.
The following conclusions have been drawn on the basis 11. Sen, M. and Shan, H. S.. Analysis of hole quality characteristics in
of results and discussions; the electro jet drilling process. International Journal of Machine
1) The optimum condition for maximum material Tools Manufacture, 2005, 45:137-52.
12. Mukherjee S.K., Kumar, S., Srivastava, P.K. and Kumar, A.: Effect
removal rate is electrolyte concentration 100 of valency on material removal rate in electrochemical machining
gm/liter, voltage 13.5 volts and, feed rate 0.4 of aluminium . Journal of materials processing technology, (2008)
mm/rate. Vol. 202, pp. 398-401
2) The optimum condition for minimum surface 13. Baocheng Wang and Jinhua Zhu: Effect of electrochemical
roughness is electrolyte concentration 150 gm/liter, polishing time on surface topography of mild steel, Journal of
University of Science and Technology 14 (2007) 236-239
voltage 13.5 volts and feed is 0.6 mm/min.
The Feed rate, voltage, electrolyte concentration and its
flow rate effects maximum material removal rate, and AUTHRS FROFILE
minimum surface roughness parameters.
3) Iqbal Ahmed Khan, He Received His Ph.D.
The Feed rate, voltage, electrolyte concentration and its In Mechanical Engineering (Ergonomics) In
2007, From Jamia Millia Islamia, New-Delhi.
flow rate effects maximum material removal rate, and He Did M. Tech. In (Industrial And
minimum surface roughness parameters. Production Engineering) In 2000, From
The following conclusions have been drawn on the basis Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P.,
of results and discussions; And B. E. (Mechanical Engineering) In 1995,
From Jamia Millia Islamia, New-Delhi. He
4) The optimum condition for maximum material has more than 21 years of teaching and
removal rate is electrolyte concentration 100 administrative experience of different reputed Institutes such as
gm/liter, voltage 13.5 volts and, feed rate 0.4 Galgotias University, Krishna Engineering College, Greater Noida
mm/rate. Institute of Technology, Manav Rachna College of Engineering etc.
Presently he is working as a Prof. & Head in Department of Mechanical
5) The optimum condition for minimum surface Engineering, Lingaya;s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana. His major
roughness is electrolyte concentration 150 gm/liter, research interest includes evaluation and improvement of performance
voltage 13.5 volts and feed 0.6 mm/min. of industrial workers, evaluation and improvement of human working
The Feed rate, voltage, electrolyte concentration and its conditions, ergonomic design of tools and equipment, and Human-
Computer-Interaction (Environmental Ergonomics). He had published
flow rate effects maximum material removal rate, and 26 research papers in International and National Journals and also
minimum surface roughness parameters. guided the students in projects and dissertations at UG and PG levels.
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DOI:10.35940/ijrte.D6817.118419\Journal and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
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International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-4, November 2019
Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
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and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
DOI:10.35940/ijrte.D6817.118419
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Journal Website: www.ijrte.org