Electrochemical Machining of Iron and Steel (I)

Boring by Special Cathode

Abstract

The machining methods of boring the work by the electrochemical dissolution are studied experimentally. In these methods the work is taken as an anode and an electrolytic solution flows between the electrodes.
A carbon steel is used as the work, and the aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid as an electrolytic solution. The cathode is a hollow cylinder, having many holes at its base and its outside is coated with an insulating film.
The cathode is fed into the work according to the machining speed, and a gap between electrodes is manually controlled in accordance with the voltage between electrodes.
Although the protrusions are produced on the base of machined surface, these protrusions are reduced with the increase of the ratio of the flow rate of electrolytic solution to the machining current, and machining accuracy also is improved with the increase of these ratios.
When the feeding speed is smaller than the machining speed, the protrusions vanish, but the machining clearance increases remarkably. The protrusions decrease with the size of holes which are made in the base of the cathode, but the cathode utilizing the metallic filter makes the base of machining surface flatter than the cathode having holes.