Turning Process Assisted in situ by Short Time Current Pulses

This article reports on a novel machining process technique: in situ electrically assisted turning process based on the influence of electropulsing. An in house generator was used to induce a current intensity of 90 A, a pulse duration between 50 and 200 μs and frequencies between 100 and 300 Hz. The influence of different electropulsing configurations assisting the machining process was studied, specifically on the surface properties and the power consumption in 1045 steel. The results show that the electrically-assisted turning process improves material machinability, decreasing the power consumption up to 104 W and the specific cutting energy up to 22%. The assisted process also modifies the surface properties, the average surface roughness decreases within the range of 7 to 22% when compared to the conventional turning process.