Development and Experimental Study of Electrochemical Diamond Drilling Process on Ti6Al4V

Abstract

Electrochemical diamond drilling (ECDD) process is a chemical energy-based hybrid machining technique where the removal of material from the workpiece occurs with the help of both anodic dissolution and mechanical abrasion. Titanium alloys have remarkable mechanical as well as chemical properties, however, excellent properties enhance the difficulty in machining of titanium. Ti6Al4V, alloy of titanium contains [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] phase which have different dissolution potentials and produces poor surface when electrochemically machined. Here electrochemical diamond drilling of Ti6Al4V is done with a diamond abrasive tool which helps in mechanical abrasion and further by electrochemical dissolution hence this increases the rate of material removal and minimizes surface roughness. From the experiments, the suitable machining range was found to be, voltage 13–17[Formula: see text]V, tool feed rate 0.09–0.15[Formula: see text]mm/min, and electrolyte concentration of electrolyte from 225[Formula: see text]g/l to– 275[Formula: see text]g/l, with tool rotation ranging between 800[Formula: see text]RPM and 1200[Formula: see text]RPM. The MRR range found was between 30.57[Formula: see text]mg/min and 53.11[Formula: see text]mg/min with Ra values ranging between 2.66[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m and –5.76[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m. The variation of machining with ECDD tool and bare ECD tool has also been graphically represented which highlights the benefits of diamond abrasive-based ECDD tool.