Electrolytic machining, deburring and polishing involve selective removal of surfacemetal from a workpiece by conversion of the metal to its ions resulting from the flow ofan electric current. This is one of the applications of electrochemistry discovered byMichael Faraday in the early 1800s. The principle of electrochemical decomposition wasnot employed as a manufacturing process until the mid-1900s. The most notable earlyapplication was machining of advanced aerospace materials. Since then, there have beenmany new applications and process innovations that have lead to broad implementationof the technology. Intrinsic process benefits, such as very fast removal rates, stress-freeresults, complex geometry machining, and non-consumed tooling have added to thepopularity of electrolytic machining. This paper will include four aspects of thistechnology: selective burr removal and edge machining, surface finishing improvement,volumetric machining, and electrolytic rifling.
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