An investigation on the electrochemical discharge drilling of glass through the machined structureanalysis

Electrochemical Discharge Machining (ECDM) has beendemonstrated to be an alternative spark-based micromachiningmethod for fabricating micro-holes and microchannelsin hard and brittle materials. This process is ahybrid machining method which can combine theadvantages of electrochemical machining (ECM) andelectrodischarge machining (EDM) with the ability ofmachining electrically non-conductive materials such asglass and ceramics. However, ECDM is a verycomplicated process which involves different physical,chemical and electrical phenomena so that its materialremoval mechanisms are affected by several occurrencesin the machining area. So far, different studies have beenconducted to investigate the happenings occuring inECDM but its nature has not been completely understood.In this paper, some aspects of the nature of theelectrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) of glassincluding sparking around the tool and gas film formationduring the machining are investigated. In this regard, setsof experiments with different ECDM parameters havebeen conducted and the produced structures on theworkpiece are studied. According to the results, gas filmform around the tool varies as the hole depth increases.Consequently, sparking around the tool is not constantduring the process and varies in different depths. Thesparking variations during the machining process cansignificantly affect the surface integrity of the producedstructure and machining accuracy. Moreover, according tothe microscopic observations, different roughnesses andsurface textures can be observed in cross section of thedrilled hole showing two different machining regimesinvolved in ECDM process.

کلیدواژه ها:

Electrochemical discharge machining(ECDM) ، glass ، Surfaces integrity.