Effect of the hollow electrode on the material removal rate of titanium alloy (grade 1) in the electrochemical machining (ECM) process

Production Engineering and Metallurgy Department, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

^* Corresponding author: pme.21.70@grad.uotechnology.edu.iq

Abstract

This study examined the material removal rate (MRR) affected by the variables of the electrochemical process including electrode type, voltage, electrolyte type, electrolyte concentration, and gap. Titanium alloy was employed as the workpiece, while copper was utilized as the cylindrical electrode. The input parameters were established according to Taguchi’s methodology. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) using a linear regression model was dependent on making sense of the experiment’s findings. the solid electrode achieved the maximum material removal rate (MRR) value (0.0857) g/min, while the hollow electrode with (1500 l/hour) flow rate achieved the minimum material removal rate (MRR) value (0.00002) g/min. the material removal rate (MRR) was directly proportional to the voltage. Maximum material removal rate (MRR) occurred at a concentration of (75 g/l) for the (NH₄C) electrolyte, while minimum material removal rate (MRR) occurred at a concentration of (50 g/l) for the (NH₄Cl) electrolyte. It has been observed that the contributing factors in controlling material removal rate (MRR) were as follows; (66.67%) for the voltage, (5.89%) for the electrode, (5.72%) for the electrolyte concentration, (3.24%) for the type of electrolyte, and (3.07%) for the gap.