Optical in Situ Measurements and Interdisciplinary Modeling of the Electrochemical Sinking Process of Inconel 718

Due to the increasing use of hard to machine nickel-based alloys in aircraft engines, electrochemical machining (ECM) is an important manufacturing alternative, especially in blade and blisk (blade integrated disk) production. However, caused by constantly changing properties of the electrolyte during machining, it is difficult to predict suitable tool electrode (cathode) geometry for a given workpiece contour a priori. Especially temperature and gas evolution affect the conductivity of the electrolyte significantly and thus lead to local deviations in dissolving rate. So this paper presents optical in situ measurements of electrochemical machining the nickel-based alloy Inconel 718 in terms of high- speed and thermography camera recordings. With the help of these measurements on the one hand a deeper process understanding is generated and on the other hand the findings will serve as input and validation for an interdisciplinary process simulation model based on conservation equations. Finally this model will be used to calculate a complex geometry and will be compared to experimental results.