Research on hybrid laser-electrochemical micromachining: Prototype machine-tool development and test-machining results

摘要

The trend in product miniaturization along with the advent of novel materials such as those with conductivity variations, superalloys with thermal barrier coateings, multilayered materials, additively manufactured materials, etc. have created a major challenge for the machining industry. It requires to extend the boundaries of existing machining processes by developing innovative hybrid machining processes. This paper presents a novel hybrid laser-electrochemical micromachining technology. The development of a protoype machine-tool for this hybrid laser-ECM process is presented. To verify the effectiveness of the hybrid laser-electrochemical process, machining experiments have been performed on Inconel 718 superalloy. The point removals have been analyzed and a comparative study of ECM and laser-ECM is presented. It shows that laser-assisted electrochemical machining achieves higher current densities, accelerated material removal rates and improved surface finish in localized regions.