Research on Multi-Physical Field Coupling Simulation of Local Electrochemical Machining

Abstract

Casing is one of the most important components of an aircraft engine. However, due to its thin wall thickness and difficult-to-cut materials, it is difficult to process with a conventional mechanical method. Counter-rotating electrochemical machining (CRECM) is a special electrochemical machining method, which is very suitable for machining aircraft engine casing parts. However, for the convex structure with large surface height and a complex shape of the casing, is sometimes difficult for CRECM to obtain the desired design accuracy. Local electrochemical machining is proposed under this background, which is used for after-machining of the pre-shaped convex structure by CRECM. In order to predict the local electrochemical machining result accurately and improve the machining precision, this paper establishes a multi-physical field coupling simulation model of the local electrochemical machining considering the influence of gas–liquid two-phase flow and temperature field. The influence of a gas–liquid two-phase flow field and temperature field on the conductivity distribution were simulated and analyzed, the reason for simulation error with pure electric field and the influence of cathode end width L on machining accuracy was analyzed, and it was found that the gas–liquid two-phase flow field played a major role in the simulation results of local electrochemical machining. The experimental results show that there is a significant error between the pure electric field simulation results and the experimental results, and the multi-physical field coupling simulation results are basically consistent with the experimental results. The multi-physical field coupling simulation can predict the results of local electrochemical machining with high accuracy and has important significance for improving the precision of local electrochemical machining.