Modeling of Wire Electrochemical Micromachining

Wire electrochemical micromachining (WECMM) is a promising method for the fabrication of various metal parts. In recent years, WECMM has attracted increasing interest, especially for treatment of complex-shaped microworkpieces. By now, the regularities of electrochemical shaping for the complex-shaped workpieces have not been adequately investigated, because the majority of the works, which are devoted to WECMM, are experimental.In this work WECMM is studied theoretically. The Laplace equation for the electric potential and the equation of workpiece surface evolution are used as the mathematical model of the process. A scheme of computer simulation involves the numerical solution of the Laplace equation by the boundary element method; the determination of a new position of workpiece surface with regard for possible topological changes; and the motion of wire tool-electrode along a prescribed trajectory. Various schemes of shaping for the tool-electrodes with various cross-section shapes and various types of motions are analyzed. As a result of simulation, the dependences of the front and side interelectrode gaps on the machining parameters are obtained. They can be used for determining the path of wire tool-electrode in order to obtain the prescribed shape and sizes of workpiece surface.