Analysis and Reduction of Stray-Current Attack in Reciprocated Traveling Wire Electrochemical Machining

Abstract

Traveling wire electrochemical machining is a promising approach for the fabrication of various metal parts. However, the straycurrent attack deteriorates the surface quality while it is employed to cut thick workpiece as a normal pulse or DC is used. In this paper, the characteristics of the stray-current attack in reciprocated traveling wire electrochemical machining are firstly identified, and special insulating methods are proposed to reduce the effect of the stray-current. The model of electric field is built. Both the simulation and the experimental results illustrate that the stray-current attack can be reduced significantly by the proposed insulating methods. Finally, structures with fine surface quality on stainless steel 304 with thickness of 20 mm were successfully produced.

Review—Wire Electrochemical Machining Process: Overview and Recent Advances

“…Apart from this, molybdenum has a lower tensile strength than tungsten and lower chemical stability. For this reason, no in-situ fabrication of molybdenum wire has been carried out; instead, readymade wire of minimum 100 μm diameter has been used for machining stainless steel (SS 304) substrate, 23,37 γ-TiAl alloy, 38 etc. On the other hand, little machining has been carried out with 500 μm ribbed stainless steel (SS 304) wire electrode on stainless steel (SS 304) substrate 29 and with 120 μm diameter copper coated stainless steel (SS 304) wire electrode for slicing silicon wafers via abrasive electrochemical slicing technique.…”

“…Researchers have attempted to minimize the effect of stray current by using an insulating glass tube on 100 μm reciprocating and traveling molybdenum wire during WECM, but further work in this direction is required to minimize the effect. 37 On the other hand, accuracy in WEDM is much better, as there is no effect of stray current and the accuracy can be further enhanced by the implementation of additional secondary machining and tooling like a noble self-centering flexible fixture that has been applied during fabrication of micro gears with intact tool profile and sharp corners. 55 During fabrication of high aspect ratio features in WECM, it is very difficult to achieve aspect ratios greater than 30 by applying only axial flushing of the electrolyte.…”

Tribological properties and insulation effect of nanometer TiO2 and nanometer SiO2 as additives in grease

“…Additionally, stray current exists in many electrical apparatus, it can cause electrochemical corrosion and hence increase the friction and wear between the contact surfaces [39,40]. Methods to protect electrical apparatus from stray current corrosion is increasing the insulating capacity of the contact surfaces [41][42][43]. Insulating grease is a material that applied between the contact surfaces; it can increase the insulating capacity between the interfaces and reduce the corrosion caused by stray current.…”

Electrochemical Microslot Machining by Ultrasonic-Vibration-Aided Electrolyte on Nitinol Wire

“…In 2016, Fang, X. et al successfully completed complex-shape microgroove machining on stainless steel using ultrashort-pulse wire electrochemical machining with a programmable moving platform [10]. In 2014, Zeng, Y. et al proposed the study of stray-current attack in reciprocated traveling wire electrochemical machining, and successfully performed a high-quality cut into 20 mm-thick stainless steel [11]. In 2016, Fang, X. et al proposed a multiple wire electrochemical micromachining (MWECMM) method, and the principle of the process was analyzed and verified through experiments [12].…”