Simulation and experiments of abrasive assisted electrochemical jet machining of SiC reinforced aluminum matrix composites

摘要

Silicon carbide reinforced aluminum matrix composites (SiCp/Al) exhibit excellent properties and performance in fields of aerospace, electronic packaging, precision instrumentation and automotive industry. The SiC_p/Al composites are hard-to-machine materials due to different physical properties between reinforcement material and matrix material. This study investigated the removal mechanism of the reinforcement in abrasive assisted electrochemical jet machining (AECJM) of SiCp/Al composites through simulation and experiments. The results show that the lifetime of the bonding interface between SiC and matrix significantly decreases with lowering of the bonding area. For a given bonding area, the lifetime of that is proportional to the SiC size. Therefore, the material removal rate is markedly influenced by the SiC particle size. The SiC reinforcement can be extracted out when the bonding area drops off to a low level. This results in many micro pits left at the machined surface. The roughness of the surface is highly related to the number and size of these micro pits. Larger size of or higher volume fraction of the reinforcement will result in rougher machined surfaces.