An Introduction to ElectroChemical Discharge Machining

Fig 1: ECDM Setup

Hello Friends,

Myself Pavan Kumar, did my BE in I&P Engg, I would like to write about my final year project i.e ECDM a Hybrid non-conventional machining process.

Why we need Non-conventional or Hybrid Machining?
There is a constantly increasing demand for engineering materials having properties superior to those possessed by customary engineering materials. The properties of interest in these materials (advanced engineering materials) are ultra high strength, high temperature and thermal shock resistance, high fatigue strength, high wear resistance, high strength to wear ratio, etc. However, high values of these properties make it more difficult to shape these materials by machining using conventional methods, thereby limiting their widespread applications. Ceramics and fire reinforced polymer composites have very attractive properties. However, conventional machining of fiber composites leads to delamination and fuzzing, while machining of ceramics by conventional methods is either not possible or uneconomical. So to over come these drawbacks in conventional machining mechanical industries adopted Non-conventional machining, in which the indirect energy is used to perform machining, the source of energy may be LASER, heat, spark, chemical energy etc.

Let me tell you what is ECDM?

ECDM in expanded form is ElectroChemical Discharge Machining, it's a kind of non-conventional machining but a hybrid one, that means the principle of two non-conventional machining are used to perform the machining, respectively ElectroChemical Machining(ECM) and Electrical Discharge Machining(EDM).

Both of these above mentioned Non-Conventional Machining processes have their own advantage and disadvantages, so by combining the principles of ECM & EDM we could overcome the disadvantages involved in both the machining processes to certain extent when used individually.

I will explain the principle of ECDM in my next post.......

Thank you for reading, do share my post with your friends.