Microstructural Effect Of Electrochemical Polishing On EDM Machined Surfaces

Abstract

A traditional practice in the die and mould making industry is to hand polish the part as a finishing operation  irrespective of the type of primary machining process used in manufacture (e.g. milling, electro discharge  machining, etc.). However, a possible alternative when die sinking using Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is to electrochemically polish the surface. Hence the surface resulting after the EDM process will be a  combination of the two above mentioned processes, and their interaction. The aim of this paper is to examine how the two processes in sequence affect the microstructure and the thickness of the white layer of the  finished component. An attempt is made to quantify the effects of current density employed in the electrochemical polishing process on the EDM surface.

Keywords: Electro Discharge Machine, Lapping, Electro chemical polishing.