PULSE ELECTROCHEMICAL MICROMACHINING OF TUNGSTEN CARBIDE

Pulse electrochemical micromachining (PECMM) is a non-conventional manufacturing method suitable for the production of micro-sized components on a wide range of conductive materials. PECMM improves dimensional accuracy and simplifies tool design in machining hard, high strength, and heat resistant materials into complex shapes. Extremely small interelectrode gaps are required in PECMM for better dimensional accuracy. However, excessively small interelectrode gaps may lead to complications like short-circuiting. This imposes the need for better control of the PECMM process. In this study a feedback controlled PECMM system was developed for the electrochemical micromachining of tungsten carbide. It was noticed that while, higher ratios of return velocity to feed rate is preferred as it reduces the number of current spikes, very high value of this ratio results in poor machining rates due to increased interelectrode gap. Therefore, this ratio of return velocity to feed rate may be used to optimize the PECMM process.