Vibration-assisted wire electrochemical micromachining with a suspension of B4C particles in the electrolyte

The micron-level machining gap of wire electrochemical micromachining (WECMM) makes it difficult to remove the electrolytic products, which always get deposited on the surface of the wire cathode. Usually, an acidic or alkaline solution is chosen as the electrolyte to reduce the insoluble electrolytic products during machining, but they are not environmentally friendly. To solve the problem, this paper proposed adding B4C particles to a neutral NaNO3 electrolyte and machining microgrooves by vibration-assisted WECMM. The effects of the B4C particles on the deposition occurring on a wire cathode surface during machining and their role in reducing bubbles accumulation were discussed. Additionally, the effects of the amplitude, frequency of the wire cathode vibration, and particle concentration on the maximum feed rate and profiles of the microgrooves were examined. The experimental results show that adding B4C particles not only significantly reduced the electrolytic products deposited on the surface of the wire cathode and prevented bubbles from accumulating in the machining gap but also improved the surface quality of the microgrooves. Based on the optimized parameters, to machine a 3-mm-thick stainless steel workpiece could have 3.5 mu m/s of feed rate. Simultaneously, the typical array microgroove structures were formed on stainless steel.