Parametric Analysis of Electrochemical Discharge Micro-Machining Process during Profile Generation on Glass

Electrochemical discharge micro-machining (micro-ECDM) has the ability to machine electrically nonconducting materials as compared with different existing traditional and also non-traditional machining processes. This paper deals with the effects of different process parameters like applied voltage (V), electrolyte concentrations(wt%), pulse frequency and duty ratio on different machining performance characteristics such as material removal rate (MRR), overcut (OC) and heat affected zone (HAZ) during micro-profile generation on electrically non-conducting glass. Applied voltage has been set from 35-55 V and the electrolyte concentration, pulse frequency and duty factor were varied from 10-30wt%, 200Hz-1kHz and 45-65% respectively during the experimentation. A cylindrical shaped stainless tool of diameter 350 μm and NaOH solution as electrolyte were used to conduct the experiments. Material removal rate is high for 55 V and 30 wt% electrolyte concentration respectively. Overcut and HAZ area decreases with frequency whereas it increases with duty ratio after 50% and 55% of duty ratio respectively.