Electrochemical machining of a convex strips structure on a revolving part by using site directed power interruption

Revolving parts with complex surface structures are widely used in machinery and mechanical equipment. The ECM process provides its adequacy to cut hard materials with different shapes, and its applications are widely increased, due to its outstanding advantages. In this paper, a new method for machining a convex strips structure on a cylinder by using site directed power interruption (SDPI) in the ECM process is presented. A variable correction value of the power-off time was defined and optimized to obtain the ideal interval for better machining accuracy and stability. The electric field distribution and the simulated convex profiles show that the stray current density can be reduced effectively by using the proposed method. The correction value has an important influence on the machining accuracy. A suitable correction value in the range of 0.6-1.2 s can effectively improve the machining accuracy of the convex strips structure. Experiments were also conducted to verify the proposed method. Results have confirmed that the stray corrosion on the convex strips surface is significantly reduced and the machining accuracy of convex strips structure is remarkably improved by using the proposed method with a suitable correction value in the ECM process. Finally, a convex strip with a height of 2 mm on a thin-wall revolving part was also produced successfully using a correction value of 0.9.