Advance Machining Processes

UNIT-I
INTRODUCTION
Manufacturing processes can be broadly divided into two groups

 primary manufacturing processes

Need or Purpose: To impart basic shape and size to the material as per designer’s
requirement.

1. Liquid stage forming processes: Casting

2. Solid stage forming processes: All metal working processes-Forging, Rolling,

Extrusion , Drawing etc..

3. Powder stage forming processes: Powder metallurgy- Cutting tool inserts

( Diamond tip), Tungsten filament, Lubricating bearings etc..

 secondary manufacturing processes.

Need or Purpose: To impart final shape and size with tight control on dimensions
and shape.

-Mostly material removal processes

• Partially manufacturing processes: Coatings , rapid proto typing ,additive

manufacturing

Classification of secondary manufacturing processes

 “Conventional Machining Processes”

Examples of conventional machining processes: Turning, Boring, Milling, Shaping,

Broaching, Slotting, Grinding etc.

• “Non-Traditional Manufacturing Processes”.

Unconventional manufacturing processes is defined as a group of processes that

remove excess material by various techniques involving mechanical, thermal, electrical or
chemical energy or combinations of these energies but do not use a sharp cutting tools as it
needs to be used for traditional manufacturing processes.

Abrasive Jet Machining (AJM),

Ultrasonic Machining (USM),

 Water Jet and Abrasive Water Jet Machining (WJM and AWJM),

Electro-discharge Machining (EDM)

Electro chemical machining (ECM)

Laser beam machining (LBM)

Electron beam machining (EBM)

Plasma machining (PAM)

Ion beam machining (IBM)

Characteristics of conventional machining process

 Material removed due to the application of cutting forces

 Energy domain –Mechanical

 Macroscopic chip formed

 Chip formed due to the shear deformation

 Cutting tool is harder than work piece at room temperature as well as under
machining conditions

Characteristics of Unconventional machining process

 Material removal- Chip formation or Even no chip formation

AJM- Microscopic size

ECM- Electro chemical dissolution at atomic level ( No chip formed)

 Physical tool : May be absent

LBM: Machining is carried out by laser beam

WJM: Machining is carried out by high pressure of water

 EDM: Physical tool very much required

ECM: Similarly required a tool

 Tool need not be harder than work piece: In EDM copper or graphite is used as
the tool material to machine hardened steels, titanium, Inconel etc...

 Energy Domain:

Different energy domains for machining

- USM, AJM, WJM, AWJM mechanical energy

- ECM Electro chemical dissolution

- EDM, EBM Electro thermal energy

Non-conventional processes classified into various groups according to the basic

requirements like:

(i) Type of energy required namely mechanical, electrical, chemical etc.

(ii)Basic mechanism involved in the processes, like brittle fracture,erosion, ionic

dissolution, vaporization etc.

(iii) Source of immediate energy required for material removal, namely, hydrostatic
pressure, high current density, high voltage, ionized material, etc.

(iv) Medium for transfer of those energies, like high velocity particles, electrolyte,
electron, hot gases, etc.

On the basis of above requirements, the various processes may be classified

Classification of NTM processes

Mechanical Processes

 Abrasive Jet Machining (AJM)

 Ultrasonic Machining (USM)

 Water Jet Machining (WJM)

 Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM)

Electrochemical Processes

 Electrochemical Machining (ECM)

 Electro Chemical Grinding (ECG)

 Electro Jet Drilling (EJD)

Electro-Thermal Processes

 Electro-discharge machining (EDM

 Laser Jet Machining (LJM)

 Electron Beam Machining (EBM)

Chemical Processes

 Chemical Milling (CHM)

 Photochemical Milling (PCM) etc

Physical parameters
Capability to shape
Shape Application of Non-conventional Processes
Applicability to materials

Machining characteristics
  The machining characteristics of different non-conventional processes can be
analyzed with respect to :

 (i) Metal removal rate

 (ii) Tolerance maintained

 (iii) Surface finish obtained

 (iv) Depth of surface damage

 (v) Power required for machining

Economics of the processes

 The economics of the various processes are analyzed on the basis of following factors

 (i) Capital cost

 (ii) Tooling cost

 (iii) Consumed power cost

 (iv) Metal removal rate efficiency

 (v) Tool wear.

Need for NTM

Conventional machining sufficed the requirement of the industries over the decades. But new
exotic work materials as well as innovative geometric design of products and components
were putting lot of pressure on capabilities of conventional machining processes to
manufacture the components with desired tolerances economically. This led to the
development and establishment of NTM processes in the industry as efficient and economic
alternatives to conventional ones. With development in the NTM processes, currently there
are often the first choice and not an alternative to conventional processes for certain technical
requirements. The following examples are provided where NTM processes are preferred over
the conventional machining process:

 Reactive materials, innovative design and requirement, tighter tolerance and micro
machining etc..

 Intricate shaped blind hole – e.g. square hole of 15 mmx15 mm with a depth of 30
mm

 Difficult to machine material – e.g. same example as above in Inconel, Ti-alloys or

carbides (ECM, EDM).

 Low Stress Grinding – Electrochemical Grinding is preferred as compared to

conventional grinding

 Deep hole with small hole diameter – e.g. φ 1.5 mm hole with l/d = 20

 Machining of composites.
Conventional Manufacturing Non-Conventional Manufacturing

Generally macroscopic chip formation by Material removal may occur with chip
shear deformation. formation or even no chip formation may
take place

physical tool present physical tool is not necessary

Cutting tool is harder than work piece Cutting tool is softer than work piece

Material removal takes place due to Mostly NTM processes do not necessarily
application of cutting forces use mechanical energy to provide material
removal. They use different energy domains
to provide machining

Direct contact of tool and work piece Does not require the direct contact of tool
and work piece.

High tool wear as there is a physical contact Tool wear is not the concern.
between the tool and the work.

Lower accuracy and surface finish. Higher accuracy and surface finish.

Noisy operation mostly cause sound Quieter operation mostly no sound pollutions

pollutions are produced

Lower  capital cost Higher capital cost

Easy  set-up of equipment. Complex set-up equipment.

Skilled or un-skilled operator may required Skilled operator required

Generally they are manual to operate. Generally they are fully automated process.

They cannot be used to produce prototype Can be used to produce prototype parts very
parts very efficiently and economically. efficiently And economically.
 Ultrasonic Machining (USM)

The working process of an ultrasonic machine is performed

Working principle of ultrasonic machining

 Ultrasonic machining is a non-traditional machining process. USM is grouped under

the mechanical group NTM processes.

 In ultrasonic machining, a tool of desired shape vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency (19

~ 25 kHz) with an amplitude of around 15 – 50 μm over the W/P.
 Generally the tool is pressed downward with a feed force, F. Between the tool and
w/p, the machining zone is flooded with hard abrasive particles generally in the form
of a water based slurry.

 As the tool vibrates over the w/p, the abrasive particles act as the indenters and indent
both the work material and the tool.

 The abrasive particles, as they indent, the work material, would remove the same,
particularly if the work material is brittle, due to crack initiation, propagation and
brittle fracture of the material.

 Hence, USM is mainly used for machining brittle materials {which are poor
conductors of electricity and thus cannot be processed by Electrochemical and
Electro-discharge machining (ECM and EDM)}.

Mechanisms of Material Removal in USM and its modelling

 As has been mentioned earlier, USM is generally used for machining brittle work
material. Material removal primarily occurs due to the indentation of the hard
abrasive grits on the brittle work material.

 As the tool vibrates, it leads to indentation of the abrasive grits. During indentation,
due to Hertzian contact stresses, cracks would develop just below the contact site,
then as indentation progresses the cracks would propagate due to increase in stress
and ultimately lead to brittle fracture of the work material under each individual
interaction site between the abrasive grits and the w/p.

 The tool material should be such that indentation by the abrasive grits does not lead to
brittle failure. Thus the tools are made of tough, strong and ductile materials like steel,
stainless steel and other ductile metallic alloys.

 Other than this brittle failure of the work material due to indentation some material
removal may occur due to free flowing impact of the abrasives against the work
material and related solid-solid impact erosion, but it is estimated to be rather
insignificant.

 Thus, in the current model, material removal would be assumed to take place only due
to impact of abrasives between tool and w/p, followed by indentation and brittle
fracture of the w/p. The model does consider the deformation of the tool.

 In the current model, all the abrasives are considered to be identical in shape and size.
An abrasive particle is considered to be spherical but with local spherical bulges as
shown in Fig.

 The abrasive particles are characterised by the average grit diameter, dg. It is further
assumed that the local spherical bulges have a uniform diameter, db and which is
related to the grit diameter by db = μdg2. Thus an abrasive is characterised by μ and dg.
  μ = Grit factor

db
db
Local Bulge
dg
During indentation by the abrasive grit onto the workpiece and the tool, the local
spherical bulges contact the surfaces and the indentation process is characterised by db
rather than by dg.

Fig: Interaction between grit and work piece

 As the indentation proceeds, the contact zone between the abrasive grit and workpiece
is established and the same grows. The contact zone is circular in nature and is
characterised by its diameter ‘2x’. At full indentation, the indentation depth in the
work material is characterised by δw.

Due to the indentation, as the work material is brittle, brittle fracture takes place
leading to hemi-spherical fracture of diameter ‘2x’ under the contact zone. Therefore
material removal per abrasive grit is given as

Now from above figure

If at any moment of time, there are an average ‘n’ of grits and the tool is vibrating at a
frequency ‘f’ then material removal rate can be expressed as

What exactly happens when the tool comes down

Now as the tool and w/p would be pressing against each other, contact being
established via the abrasive grit, both of them would deform or wear out. As the tool
vibrates, for sometime, it vibrates freely; then it comes in contact with the abrasive,
which is already in contact with the job. And then the indentation process starts and
finally completes with an indentation of δw and δt on the work and tool respectively.

Interaction between grit and w/p and tool to depict the w/p and tool deformations

Total indentation
 Fig: Change in tool position due to ultrasonic vibration of the tool

Process Parameters and their Effects

 Amplitude of vibration (ao) – 15 – 50 μm (Characterise the vibration)

 Frequency of vibration (f) – 19 – 25 kHz (What rate it vibrates)
 Feed force (F) – related to tool dimensions (Tool given downward force)
 Feed pressure (p) =F/Area of tool
 Abrasive size – 15 μm – 150 μm
 Abrasive material – Al2O3
• SiC
• B4C
• Boronsilicarbide
• Diamond
 Flow strength of work material
 Flow strength of the tool material (FS is high, withstand fracture of tool)
 Contact area of the tool – A
 Volume concentration of abrasive in water slurry – C(10%-60%)
• Tool
a. Material of tool
b. Shape
c. Amplitude of vibration
d. Frequency of vibration
e. Strength developed in tool
• Work material
a. Material
b. Impact strength
c. Surface fatigue strength
• Slurry
a. Abrasive – hardness, size, shape and quantity of abrasive flow
b. Liquid – Chemical property, viscosity, flow rate
c. Pressure
d. Density

Effect of process parameters on MRR

 Construction and Working of ultrasonic machine

Schematic view of an Ultrasonic Machine

 The basic mechanical structure of an USM is very similar to a drill press.
 However, it has additional features to carry out USM of brittle work material. The w/p
is mounted on a vice, which can be located at the desired position under the tool using
a 2 axis table. The table can further be lowered or raised to accommodate work of
different thickness.
The typical elements of an USM are
 Slurry delivery and return system
 Feed mechanism to provide a downward feed force on the tool during
machining
 The transducer, which generates the ultrasonic vibration
  The horn or concentrator, which mechanically amplifies the vibration to the
required amplitude of 15 – 50 μm and accommodates the tool at its tip.
 The ultrasonic vibrations are produced by the transducer. The transducer is driven by
suitable signal generator followed by power amplifier.

The transducer for USM works on the following principle

 Piezoelectric effect
 Magnetostrictive effect
 Electrostrictive effect
 Magnetostrictive transducers are most popular and robust amongst all.

Working principle of Magnetostrictive transducers

Magnetostrictive materials transducer converts magnetic energy to mechanical energy

and vice versa. As a magnetostrictive material is magnetized, it strains; that is it
exhibits a change in length per unit length. Conversely, if an external force produces a
strain in a magnetostrictive material, the material's magnetic state will change. This
bi-directional coupling between the magnetic and mechanical states of a
magnetostrictive material provides a transduction capability that is used for both
actuation and sensing devices. Magnetostriction is an inherent material property that
will not degrade with time.
Magneto-strictive transducer works on the principle that iron-rich metals expand and
contract when they are placed in a magnetic field. Thin plates of these metals are
stacked up to make a core. Copper wire is then wrapped cylindrically around the core
and the assembly is placed in a canister. When an electrical current is sent through the
copper coil, a magnetic field is created and the core changes shape. When the
electrical current is turned off, the coil returns to its original shape. This expansion
and contraction causes the device’s canister to resonate and generate ultrasonic waves.
Ex: Iron, nickel, cobalt and also in the rare earth materials like lanthanum and
terbium.

Types of Horns or Wave guides

 The horn or concentrator can be of different shape like

  Tapered or conical

 Exponential

 Stepped

 Machining of tapered or stepped horn is much easier as compared to the exponential

one.

Abrasive slurry

 Boron carbide is by far the fastest cutting abrasive and it is quite commonly used.
Aluminum oxide and silicon carbide are also employed. Boron carbide is very costly
and its about 29 times higher than that of aluminum oxide or silicon carbide.

 The abrasive is carried in a slurry of water with 30-60% by volume of the abrasives.

 When using large-area tools, the concentration is held low to avoid circulation
difficulties. The most important characteristic of the abrasive that highly influences
the material removal rate and surface finish of the machining is the grit size or grain
size of the abrasive.

 It has been experimentally determined that a maximum rate of machining is achieved

when the grain size becomes comparable to the tool amplitude.

 Grit sizes of 200-400 are used for roughing operations and a grit size of 800-1000 for
finishing.

Advantages of USM

 In USM process, there are no chemical or thermal changes. The microstructures

reveal that there are also no structural changes as the stresses induced are too less. The
cutting forces being low, work piece is unstressed, undistorted and free from heat
effects.

 There is no direct contact of the tool and work piece due to the slurry used, it makes it
a wet cutting process. The surfaces produced are free from stress and damages.

 The process is free from burrs and distortions.

 The process is suitable for any materials, irrespective of electrical conductivity

  The process is very much suitable for machining brittle materials

• Glass , Engineered ceramics

• Cvd sic- chemical vapor deposition

silicon carbide

• Quartz

• Single crystal materials

• Pcd - polycrystalline diamond

• Graphite

• Glassy carbon

• Composites

• Piezoceramics

 The process offers good surface finish and structural integrity.

Disadvantages of USM

 Low MRR . Material removal rates are quite low, usually less than 50 mm3/min.

 The abrasive slurry also "machines" the tool itself, thus causing high rate of tool
wear , which in turn makes it very difficult to hold close tolerances.

 Low depth of hole

 The slurry may wear the wall of the machined hole as it passes back towards the
surface, which limits the accuracy, particularly for small holes.

 Soft materials like lead and plastics are not suitable for machining by the USM
process, since they tend to absorb the abrasive particles rather than to chip under their
impact.

 The USM process consumes higher power

Applications of USM

 Used for machining hard and brittle metallic alloys, semiconductors, glass, ceramics,
carbides etc.

 Used for machining round, square, irregular shaped holes and surface impressions.

 Machining, wire drawing, punching or small blanking dies.

 In machining of advanced ceramics for applications in auto-engine components.

  Machining ceramic substrates for drilling holes in borosilicate glass for the sensors
used in electronic industries

Drilling small holes in helicopter power transmission shafts and gears.

Unit-2
Abrasive Jet machining

In Abrasive Jet Machining (AJM), abrasive particles are made to impinge on the work
material at a high velocity. The jet of abrasive particles is carried by carrier gas or air.

 The high velocity stream of abrasive is generated by converting the pressure energy of
the carrier gas or air to its kinetic energy and hence high velocity jet.

 The nozzle directs the abrasive jet in a controlled manner onto the work material, so
that the distance between the nozzle and the work piece and the impingement angle
can be set desirably.

 The high velocity abrasive particles remove the material by micro-cutting action as
well as brittle fracture of the work material.

 AJM is different from standard shot or sand blasting, as in AJM, finer abrasive grits
are used and the parameters can be controlled more effectively providing better
control over product quality.

 In AJM, generally, the abrasive particles of around 50μm grit size would impinge on
the work material at velocity of 200 m/s from a nozzle of I.D. of 0.5 mm with a stand
off distance of around 2 mm.

 The kinetic energy of the abrasive particles would be sufficient to provide material
removal due to brittle fracture of the work piece or even micro cutting by the
abrasives.

AJM Equipment
In AJM, air is compressed in an air compressor and compressed air at a pressure of around 5
bar is used as the carrier gas as shown in Fig.

 Gases like CO2, N2 can also be used as carrier gas which may directly be issued from a
gas cylinder. Generally oxygen is not used as a carrier gas.

 The carrier gas is first passed through a pressure regulator to obtain the desired
working pressure. The gas is then passed through an air dryer to remove any residual
water vapour. To remove any oil vapour or particulate contaminant the same is passed
through a series of filters.

 Then the carrier gas enters a closed chamber known as the mixing chamber. The
abrasive particles enter the chamber from a hopper through a metallic sieve. The sieve
is constantly vibrated by an electromagnetic shaker.

 The mass flow rate of abrasive (15 gm/min) entering the chamber depends on the
amplitude of vibration of the sieve and its frequency. The abrasive particles are then
carried by the carrier gas to the machining chamber via an electro-magnetic on-off
valve.

 The machining enclosure is essential to contain the abrasive and machined particles in
a safe and eco-friendly manner. The machining is carried out as high velocity (200
m/s) abrasive particles are issued from the nozzle onto a work piece traversing under
the jet.

Process Parameters and Machining Characteristics.

 Abrasive
 Material – Al2O3 / SiC / glass beads
 Shape – irregular / spherical
 Size – 10 ~ 50 μm
 Mass flow rate – 2 ~ 20 gm/min
 Carrier gas
 Composition – Air, CO2, N2
3
 Density – Air ~ 1.3 kg/m
 Velocity – 500 ~ 700 m/s
 Pressure – 2 ~ 10 bar
 Flow rate – 5 ~ 30 lpm

 Abrasive Jet
 Velocity – 100 ~ 300 m/s
 Mixing ratio – mass flow ratio of abrasive to gas –
 Stand-off distance – 0.5 ~ 5 mm
0 0
 Impingement Angle – 60 ~ 90
 Nozzle
 ⎯ Material – WC / sapphire
 ⎯ Diameter – (Internal) 0.2 ~ 0.8 mm
 ⎯ Life – 10 ~ 300 hours
 The important machining characteristics in AJM are
3
 The material removal rate (MRR) mm /min or gm/min
 The machining accuracy
 The life of the nozzle

Effect of some process parameters on MRR
Modelling of material removal

 Material removal in AJM takes place due to brittle fracture of the work material due
to impact of high velocity abrasive particles.

 Modelling has been done with the following assumptions:

 (i) Abrasives are spherical in shape and rigid. The particles are characterised
by the mean grit diameter

 (ii) The kinetic energy of the abrasives are fully utilised in removing material

 (iii) Brittle materials are considered to fail due to brittle fracture and the
fracture volume is considered to be hemispherical with diameter equal to
chordal length of the indentation
Advantages of AJM

 AJM process is a highly flexible process wherein the abrasive media is carried by a
flexible hose, which can reach out to some difficult areas and internal regions.

 AJM process creates localized forces and generates lesser heat than the conventional
machining processes.

 There is no damage to the w/p surface and also the process does not have tool-w/p
contact, hence lesser amount of heat is generated.

 The power consumption in AJM process is low.

Disadvantages of AJM
  The material removal rate is low (~ 15 mm3/min for machining glass)

 The process is limited to brittle and hard materials

 The wear rate of nozzle is very high

 The process results in poor machining accuracy

 The process can cause environmental pollution

 Abrasive particles tend to get embedded particularly if the work material is ductile

 Tapering occurs due to flaring of the jet

Applications of AJM

 For drilling holes of intricate shapes in hard and brittle materials

 For machining fragile, brittle and heat sensitive materials

 AJM can be used for drilling, cutting, cleaning and etching

 Micro-machining of brittle materials

WJM & AWJM

WJM and AWJM can be achieved using different approaches and methodologies as
enumerated below:

• WJM - Pure

• WJM - with stabilizer

• AWJM – entrained – three phase – abrasive, water and air

• AWJM – suspended – two phase – abrasive and water

(Direct pumping, Indirect pumping & Bypass pumping).

Water Jet Machining

 Water jet technology uses the principle of pressurising water to extremely high
pressures, and allowing the water to escape through a very small opening called
“orifice” or “jewel”.

 Water jet cutting uses the beam of water exiting the orifice to cut soft materials. This
method is not suitable for cutting hard materials.

 Water is pumped at a sufficiently high pressure, 200-400 MPa (2000-4000 bar) using
intensifier technology. An intensifier works on the simple principle of pressure
amplification using hydraulic cylinders of different cross-sections as used in “Jute
Bell Presses”.

 When water at such pressure is issued through a suitable orifice (generally of 0.2- 0.4
mm dia), the potential energy of water is converted into kinetic energy, yielding a
high velocity jet (1000 m/s). Such high velocity water jet can machine thin
sheets/foils of aluminium, leather, textile, frozen food etc.

 In pure WJM, commercially pure water (tap water) is used for machining purpose.
However as the high velocity water jet is discharged from the orifice, the jet tends to
entrain atmospheric air and flares out decreasing its cutting ability.

 Hence, quite often stabilisers (long chain polymers) that hinder the fragmentation of
water jet are added to the water.

Abrasive Water Jet Machining

 In AWJM, abrasive particles like sand (SiO2), glass beads are added to the water jet to
enhance its cutting ability by many folds. AWJ are mainly of two types – entrained
and suspended type as mentioned earlier.

 In entrained type AWJM, the abrasive particles are allowed to entrain in water jet to
form abrasive water jet with significant velocity of 800 m/s. Such high velocity
abrasive jet can machine almost any material.

 The schematic of abrasive water jet cutting is shown in Figure 15 which is similar to
water jet cutting apart from some more features underneath the jewel; namely
abrasive, guard and mixing tube.

 In this process, high velocity water exiting the jewel creates a vacuum which sucks
abrasive from the abrasive line, which mixes with the water in the mixing tube to
form a high velocity beam of abrasives.

Applications of WJM & AWJM

  The Water Jet Cutting (WJC) process is mainly made used in cutting low strength
materials like plastics, wood and aluminium. With the addition of abrasives, the
AWJM process can be used for stronger materials like tool steels.

The applications and materials, which are generally machined using WJ and AWJ

Operations
Paint removal
• Cleaning
• Cutting soft materials
• Cutting frozen meat
• Textile, Leather industry
• Surgery
• Peening
• Cutting
• Pocket Milling
• Drilling
• Turning
• Nuclear Plant Dismantling
Materials
• Steels
• Non-ferrous alloys
• Ti alloys, Ni- alloys
• Polymers
• Honeycombs
• Metal Matrix Composite
• Ceramic Matrix Composite
• Concrete
• Stone – Granite
• Wood
• Reinforced plastics
• Metal Polymer Laminates
• Glass Fibre Metal Laminates

 The cutting ability of water jet machining can be improved drastically by adding hard
and sharp abrasive particles into the water jet.

 Thus, WJM is typically used to cut so called “softer” and “easy-to-machine”

materials like thin sheets and foils, non-ferrous metallic alloys, wood, textiles,
honeycomb, polymers, frozen meat, leather etc, but the domain of “harder and
“difficult-to-machine” materials like thick plates of steels, aluminium and other
commercial materials, metal matrix and ceramic matrix composites, reinforced
plastics, layered composites etc are reserved for AWJM.

 Other than cutting (machining) high pressure water jet also finds application in paint
removal, cleaning, surgery, peening to remove residual stress etc.
  AWJM can as well be used besides cutting for pocket milling, turning, drilling etc.
One of the strategic areas where robotic AWJM is finding critical application is
dismantling of nuclear plants.

Advantages of WJM

 There is no heat generated in water jet cutting; which is especially useful for cutting
tool steel and other metals where excessive heat may change the properties of the
material.

 Unlike machining or grinding, water jet cutting does not produce any dust or particles
that are harmful if inhaled.

 Other advantages are similar to abrasive water jet cutting

Advantages of AWJM

 Extremely fast set-up and programming

 Very little fixturing for most parts

 Machine virtually any 2D shape on any material

 Very low side forces during the machining

 In most of the cases, no secondary finishing required

 No cutter induced distortion

 Low cutting forces on work pieces

 Limited tooling requirements

 Little to no cutting burr

 Typical finish 125-250 microns

 Smaller kerf size reduces material wastages

 No heat affected zone

 No cutter induced metal contamination

 Eliminates thermal distortion

 No slag or cutting dross

 Precise, multi plane cutting of contours, shapes, and bevels of any angle.

Limitations of WJM
  One of the main disadvantages of water jet cutting is that a limited number of
materials can be cut economically.

 Thick parts cannot be cut by this process economically and accurately

 Taper is also a problem with water jet cutting in very thick materials. Taper is when
the jet exits the part at different angle than it enters the part, and cause dimensional
inaccuracy.

 Cannot cut materials which degrades quickly with moisture

 Higher cutting speeds are frequently used for rough cutting purposes which degrade
the surface finish.

 There is a strong possibility of cracking in brittle materials and only few varieties of
materials could be cut economically.

The equipment used are quite expensive

Limitations of AWJM

 Cannot drill flat bottom

 In thicker materials the taper generated is also a problem.

 Cannot cut materials that degrades quickly with moisture

 Surface finish degrades at higher cut speeds which are frequently used for rough
cutting.

 The major disadvantages of abrasive water jet cutting are high capital cost and high
noise levels during operation.

The equipment used are quite expensive

Equipment Of AWJM

 Any standard abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) system using entrained
AWJM methodology consists of following modules.
 Module 1
o LP booster pump
o Hydraulic unit
o Additive Mixer
o Intensifier
o Accumulator
o Flexible high pressure
transmission line
 Module 2
o On-off valve
o Orifice
o Mixing Chamber
 o Focussing tube or inserts
 Module 3
o Catcher
o CNC table
o Abrasive metering device

The heart of the hydraulic power pack is a positive displacement hydraulic pump. The power
packs in modern commercial systems are often controlled by microcomputers to achieve
programmed rise of pressure etc.

The hydraulic power pack delivers the hydraulic oil to the intensifier at a pressure of p h . The
ratio of cross-section of the two cylinders in the intensifier is say A ratio (A = A large / A small ).
Thus, pressure amplification would take place at the small cylinder as follows.

• Thus, if the hydraulic pressure is set as 100 bar and area ratio is 40, p w = 100 x 40 =
4000 bar. By using direction control valve, the intensifier is driven by the hydraulic
unit.
 • The water may be directly supplied to the small cylinder of the intensifier or it may
be supplied through a booster pump, which typically raises the water pressure to 11
bar before supplying it to the intensifier. Sometimes water is softened or long chain
polymers are added in “additive unit”.

• Thus, as the intensifier works, it delivers high pressure water. As the larger piston
changes direction within the intensifier, there would be a drop in the delivery
pressure.

• To counter such drops, a thick cylinder is added to the delivery unit to accommodate
water at high pressure. This is called an “accumulator” which acts like a “fly wheel”
of an engine and minimises fluctuation of water pressure .

• High-pressure water is then fed through the flexible stainless steel pipes to the cutting
head. It is worth mentioning here that such pipes are to carry water at 4000 bar (400
MPa) with flexibility incorporated in them with joints but without any leakage.

• Cutting head consists of orifice, mixing chamber and focussing tube or insert where
water jet is formed and mixed with abrasive particles to form abrasive water jet.

• Typical diameter of the flexible stainless steel pipes is of 6 mm. Water carried
through the pipes is brought to the jet former or cutting head.

Schematic and photographic view of the cutting head

 The potential or pressure head of the water is converted into velocity head by
allowing the high-pressure water to issue through an orifice of small diameter (0.2 –
0.4 mm).

 The velocity of the water jet thus formed can be estimated, assuming no losses as vwj =
(2pw / ρw)1/2 using Bernoulli’s equation where, pw is the water pressure and ρw is the
density of water. The orifices are typically made of sapphire.
 In commercial machines, the life of the sapphire orifice is typically around 100 – 150
hours. In WJM this high velocity water jet is used for the required application where
as in AWJM it is directed into the mixing chamber.

 The mixing chamber has a typical dimension of inner diameter 6 mm and a length of
10 mm. As the high velocity water is issued from the orifice into the mixing chamber,
low pressure (vacuum) is created within the mixing chamber. Metered abrasive
particles are introduced into the mixing chamber through a port.

 The abrasive particles are metered using different techniques like vibratory feeder or
toothed belt feeder. The reader may consult standard literature on transportation of
powders.

 Mixing means gradual entrainment of abrasive particles within the water jet and
finally the abrasive water jet comes out of the focussing tube or the nozzle.

Schematic view of mixing process

 During mixing process, the abrasive particles are gradually accelerated due to transfer
of momentum from the water phase to abrasive phase and when the jet finally leaves
the focussing tube, both phases, water and abrasive, are assumed to be at same
velocity.

 The mixing chamber is immediately followed by the focussing tube or the inserts. The
focussing tube is generally made of tungsten carbide (powder metallurgy product)
having an inner diameter of 0.8 to 1.6 mm and a length of 50 to 80 mm.

 Tungsten carbide is used for its abrasive resistance. Abrasive particles during mixing
try to enter the jet, but they are reflected away due to interplay of buoyancy and drag
force.

 They go on interacting with the jet and the inner walls of the mixing tube, until they
are accelerated using the momentum of the water jet.
 Mixing process may be mathematically modelled as follows. Taking into account the
energy loss during water jet formation at the orifice, the water jet velocity may be
given as

 Thus, the total power of the water jet can be given as

Mechanism of material removal

In water jet machining, the material removal rate may be assumed to be proportional
to the power of the water jet.
 The proportionality constant u is the specific energy requirement and would be a
property of the work material.

Suspension Jet

•
Schematic of AWJM (Suspension type) In

suspension AWJM, preformed mixture of water and abrasive particles is pumped to a

sufficiently high pressure and store in pressure vessel.

Then the premixed high-pressure water and abrasive is allowed to discharge from a
nozzle to form abrasive water jet.

Catcher

• Once the abrasive jet has been used for machining, they may have sufficiently high
level of energy depending on the type of application. Such high-energy abrasive water
jet needs to be contained before they can damage any part of the machine or
operators.

• “Catcher” is used to absorb the residual energy of the AWJ and dissipate the same.
Fig. shows three different types of catcher – water basin type, submerged steel balls
and TiB2 plate type.

• Moreover the catcher can be of pocket type or line type. In pocket type, the catcher
basin travels along the jet. In line type, the catcher basin only travels along one axis of
the CNC table and its length covers the width of the other axis of the CNC table.
 Machining Parameters in Entrained Type AWJ

 Orifice – Sapphires – 0.1 to 0.3 mm

 Focussing Tube – WC – 0.8 to 2.4 mm , 50-80mm

 Pressure – 2500 to 4000 bar

 Abrasive – garnet and olivine - #125 to #60

 Abrasive flow - 0.1 to 1.0 Kg/min

 Stand off distance – 1 to 2 mm

 Machine Impact Angle – 60o to 900

 Traverse Speed – 100 mm/min to 5 m/min

Depth of Cut – 1 mm to 250 mm

Schematic of AWJM kerf

 The top of the kerf is wider than the bottom of the kerf. Generally the top width of the
kerf is equal to the diameter of the AWJ.

 Once again, diameter of the AWJ is equal to the diameter of the focussing tube or the
insert if the stand-off distance is around 1 to 5mm.

 The taper angle of the kerf can be reduced by increasing the cutting ability of the
AWJ. Fig. shows the longitudinal section of the kerf. It may be observed that the
surface quality at the top of the kerf is rather good compared to the bottom part.

 At the bottom there is repeated curved line formation. At the top of the kerf, the
material removal is by low angle impact of the abrasive particle; where as at the
bottom of the kerf it is by plastic failure. Striation formation occurs due to repeated
plastic failure.

 Fig. shows the exit side of the kerf. Though all three of them were machined with the
same AWJ diameter, their widths are different due to tapering of the kerf. Further,
severe burr formation can be observed at the exit side of the kerf.

Product Quality Parameters

 Thus, in WJM and AWJM the following are the important product quality parameters.

 striation formation

 surface finish of the kerf

 tapering of the kerf

 burr formation on the exit side of the kerf

Environmental issues and future

 Nowadays, every manufacturing process is being re-evaluated in terms of its impact

on the environment.

 For example, use of conventional coolants in machining and grinding is being looked
upon critically from the point of view of its impact on environment.

 The environmental issues relevant to AWJM are,

 water recycling

 chip recovery

 abrasive recovery and reuse

 Environmental issues and concerns have lead the researchers to use such mediums
and abrasives that do not require disposal, recycling or lead to pollution.
  Work is going on in the area of high-pressure cryogenic jet machining. where liquid
nitrogen replaces the water phase and dry ice crystals (solid CO 2 crystals) replace the
abrasive phase leading to no need of disposal or waste generation.

 The removed work material in the form of microchips can be collected much easily
reducing the chances of environmental degradation.

Magnetic Abrasive Finishing

 EDM, laser machining, conventional cutting and even polishing can produce these
unwanted side effects.

 Customers won’t accept precision parts with rough surfaces, microcracks, recast
metal, burrs, metallurgical phase changes, visible scratches or damaging residual
stresses.

 Magnetic abrasive finishing or polishing (MAF or MAP) processes can remove these
defects and provide highly polished surfaces

 EDMed surfaces typically exhibit recast metal subsurface damage. This can cause
parts to be rejected.

 Subsequent processes such as reaming, honing, lapping and grinding must be used,
but they too can create problems to a lesser degree.

 MAF, however, does not create additional quality problems and is one of the least
complicated processes for removing material to provide a true base-metal surface.

 The equipment needed for deburring with MAF depends on part geometry.

 For example, a small lathe can typically be used for MAF of cylindrical surfaces,
while a milling machine performs MAF on flat surfaces, recessed pockets, rectangular
parts and parts with both flat and cylindrical surfaces.

 In MAF, a magnetic field is created by rotating the part opposite a fixed magnet or
rotating the magnet around a fixed part.

 These magnets attract abrasive grains of different sizes and materials, such as silicon
carbide, which come into contact with and finish the part’s surface.

 The abrasive grains are mixed with small amounts of metalworking fluid, such as
distilled water, SAE30 motor oil or kerosene. The fluid helps retain the abrasive, adds
lubricity and cools the parts. It also reduces abrasive impregnation and improves
finishes.

 An MAF setup for deburring does not need to be precise or rigid to produce mirror
finishes because the magnetic field directs the loose abrasive grains. These grains act
as self-sharpening tools because different edges rotate to make tiny cuts in the
workpiece.
 The magnetic field orients the abrasive/ magnetic grit mixture into long strings,
producing a brush-like tool. Since the field constantly exerts a force attracting the
abrasive medium, this “brush” does not need compensation. Real brushes wear and
their length must constantly be adjusted in CNC machines. Grinding and honing
require dressing of their tools, but MAF does not.

Milling machine-based MAF

 In a milling machine, the magnetic tool is chucked in the spindle and rotated.

 Figure shows a simple flat plate workpiece. More complex workpieces can be
finished using spheroid, cycloid, cylindroid or free-curved tools that are inserted into
the spindle and then into the magnetized abrasive.

 The abrasives form a layer on the tools, which can then be used to impart a finish on
the sides of dies and molds as well as under the ledges of irregularly shaped parts or
the bottom sides of through-holes.



\
 Electro chemical Machining
UNIT-3
Principle of ECM

 Electrochemical machining is a method of removing metal by an electrochemical

process. Its use is limited to electrically conductive materials.

 The process has the capabilities of machining or cutting the intricate contours or
cavities in hard steel such as titanium, Hastelloy, Kovar, Inconel, and Carbide.
External as well as internal geometries can be machined with an electrochemical
machine.

 ECM is characterized as the opposite of electrochemical or galvanic coating or

deposition process. It is sometimes referred to as reverse electroplating since it
removes material instead of depositing it.

 In the year 1833, Faraday established the laws of electrolysis (electroplating). The
mechanism in ECM process is similar to electrical discharge machining (EDM)
concept-wise, wherein a high current is passed between the tool (cathode) and the
workpiece (anode), through a conductive fluid (electrolyte).

 However, in ECM there is no tool wear. In ECM, the metal removal takes place by
electrochemical dissolution of an anodically polarized workpiece. By using the ECM
 process, very hard metals can be easily shaped electrolytically and being a chemical
process, the rate of machining does not depend on the hardness of workpiece. Soft
materials can be readily used as tool materials on harder work-pieces in ECM process.

Schematic representation of electro-chemical reactions

 During ECM, there will be reactions occurring at the electrodes i.e. at the anode or
workpiece and at the cathode or the tool along with within the electrolyte.

 Let us take an example of machining of low carbon steel which is primarily a ferrous
alloy mainly containing iron.

 For electrochemical machining of steel, generally a neutral salt solution of sodium

chloride (NaCl) is taken as the electrolyte.

The electrolyte and water undergoes ionic dissociation as shown below as potential difference
is applied

As the potential difference is applied between the work piece (anode) and the tool (cathode),
the positive ions move towards the tool and negative ions move towards the work piece.

 Thus the hydrogen ions will take away electrons from the cathode (tool) and from
hydrogen gas as:

 Similarly, the iron atoms will come out of the anode (work piece) as:

 Within the electrolyte iron ions would combine with chloride ions to form iron
chloride and similarly sodium ions would combine with hydroxyl ions to form sodium
hydroxide

 In practice FeCl2 and Fe(OH)2 would form and get precipitated in the form of sludge.
In this manner it can be noted that the work piece gets gradually machined and gets
precipitated as the sludge. Moreover there is not coating on the tool, only hydrogen
gas evolves at the tool or cathode.
  Above Fig. depicts the electro-chemical reactions schematically. As the material
removal takes place due to atomic level dissociation, the machined surface is of
excellent surface finish and stress free.

 Cathode Reaction

Na+ + e- = Na

Na+H20 = Na(OH)+H+

2H++2e- =H2 ↑

It shows that there is no deposition on tool but only gas is formed, whereas, in cathode
in machining an iron.

 Anode Reaction

Iron (Fe) ↔ Fe++ + 2e-

Fe++ +2cl- ↔ Fecl2

Fe++ +2(OH)- ↔ Fe(OH)

Fecl2 +2(OH)- ↔ Fe(OH)2 +2cl-

Process Parameters of ECM

ECM Equipment
 Schematic diagram of an electrochemical drilling unit

 The electrochemical machining system has the following modules:

• Power supply

• Electrolyte filtration and

delivery system

• Tool feed system

Working tank

Elements Of Electro Chemical Process

• Cathode tool

Tool Material used are Aluminum, brass, bronze copper, carbon, Stainless steel,
monel and reinforced plastic.

Tool material is soft so machining is not a problem.

Cold forging and electro forming are the process for tool making

• Anode Work piece

No restriction

Good conducting material are machined

Fixture need to made with insulating material

• Source of DC power

Voltage 2-20 rarely 30v

Current 50-40000amps

Step down transformer and rectifier are used to convert high voltage to low and ac to
dc respectively.

• Electrolyte

Completing the electric circuit b/w tool and workpiece

Allowing desirable machining reaction

Carrying away the heat generated during reaction

Carry away the reacted product from the machining zone

Electrolyte properties and selection

 High electric conductivity

 Low viscosity

 High specific heat

 Chemical stability

 Resistance for the formation of passive film on work piece’

 Non corrosive

 Non toxic

 Inexpensive and readily available

 Mostly sodium chloride with water is used but corrosive, Sodium nitrate solution is
also extensively used.

 Other alkaline solution used for this purpose are potassium nitrate, sodium sulphate,
sodium chromate, sodium hydroxide, sodium fluoride and potassium chloride.

Sometimes two or more chemical will give effective machining

Modelling of material removal rate

 Material removal rate (MRR) is an important characteristic to evaluate efficiency of a

non-traditional machining process.

 In ECM, material removal takes place due to atomic dissolution of work material.
Electrochemical dissolution is governed by Faraday’s laws.
 The first law states that the amount of electrochemical dissolution or deposition is
proportional to amount of charge passed through the electrochemical cell, which may
be expressed as:

where m = mass of material dissolved or deposited

Q = amount of charge passed

 The second law states that the amount of material deposited or dissolved further
depends on Electrochemical Equivalence (ECE) of the material that is again the ratio
atomic weigh and valency. Thus

 The engineering materials are quite often alloys rather than element consisting of
different elements in a givLet us assume there are ‘n’ elements in an alloy. The atomic
weights are given as A1, A2, ………….., An with valency during electrochemical
dissolution as ν1, ν2, …………, νn. The weight percentages of different elements are α 1, α2,
………….., αn (in decimal fraction).

 Now for passing a current of I for a time t, the mass of material dissolved for any
element ‘i’ is given by

 Where Γa is the total volume of alloy dissolved. Each element present in the alloy takes a
certain amount of charge to dissolve.
 Advantages of ECM

 The components are not subject to either thermal or mechanical stress.

 Harder metals than the tools can machined

 The hardness of the material does not affect the MRR.

 There is no contact between tool & w/p.

 No tool wear during ECM process.

 Fragile parts can be machined easily as there is no stress involved.

 Burr-free products are obtained in this process.

 High surface finish (up to 25 μm in) can be achieved by ECM process.

 Complex geometrical shapes in high-strength materials particularly in the aerospace

industry for the mass production of turbine blades, jet-engine parts and nozzles can be
machined repeatedly and accurately.

 Deep holes can be made by this process.

 No heat affected zone is formed.

Limitations of ECM
 Applications of ECM

 ECM technique removes material by atomic level dissolution of the same by

electrochemical action. Thus the material removal rate or machining is not dependent
on the mechanical or physical properties of the work material.

 It only depends on the atomic weight and valency of the work material and the
condition that it should be electrically conductive. Thus ECM can machine any
electrically conductive work material irrespective of their hardness, strength or even
thermal properties.

 Moreover as ECM leads to atomic level dissolution, the surface finish is excellent
with almost stress free machined surface and without any thermal damage.

 ECM is used for

o Die sinking

o Profiling and contouring

o Trepanning

o Grinding

o Drilling

o Micro-machining
 Applications of ECM

Electro chemical grinding

 Electro-chemical grinding (ECG) is a variant process of the basic ECM.

 It is a burr free and stress free material removal process, wherein material removal of
the electrically conductive material takes place through mechanical (grinding) process
and electro-chemical process.

 The abrasive laden grinding wheel is negatively charged and the workpiece is
positively charged. They are separated by an electrolyte fluid.

 The fine chips of the material that is removed from the workpiece (debris) stays in the
electrolyte fluid, which is further filtered out.

 Electrochemical grinding and electrochemical machining are similar processes with a

difference that a wheel substitutes the tool used in ECM.

 The wheel shape is similar to the desired work shape.

 The main feature of electrochemical grinding (ECG) process is the use of a metallic
grinding wheel which is embedded with insulating abrasive particles such as diamond,
set in the conducting material.

 Copper, brass, and nickel are the most commonly used materials while aluminum
oxide is a typical abrasive used while grinding steels.

 The commutator is an electrolytic spindle having carbon brushes and holds the
grinding wheel.

 It receives a negative charge from the DC power supply and the workpiece is given a
positive charge.

 In ECG process, the grinding wheel slightly touches the workpiece.

 Electrolyte is supplied on-to the grinding wheel near the workpiece such that the
wheel carries it through the cutting process thereby resulting in an electro-chemical
action.

 A nozzle similar to the one which carries coolant in a conventional grinding process is
provided, which enables the flow of the electrolytic fluid to the work tool contact
area.
Process Characteristics

 The life of grinding wheel in ECG process is very high as around 90% of the metal is
removed by electrolysis action and only 10% is due to the abrasive action of the
grinding wheel.

 The ECG process is capable of producing very smooth and burr free edges unlike
those formed during the conventional grinding process (mechanical).

 The heat produced in the ECG process is much less, leading to lesser distortion of the
workpiece.

 The major material removal activity in ECG process occurs by the dissolving action
through the chemical process.

 There is very little tool and workpiece contact and this is ideally suited for grinding of
the following categories:

 Fragile work-pieces which otherwise are very difficult to grind by the

conventional process

 The parts that cannot withstand thermal damages and

 The parts designed for stress and burr free applications.

Advantages of ECG

 Improved wheel life

 Burr free
  No work hardening

 Stress free

 Better finish

 No cracking

 Less frequent wheel dressing

 No metallurgical damage from heat

 Faster for tough materials

 No wheel loading or glazing

 More precise tolerances

Applications of ECG

 In production of tungsten carbide cutting tools.

 In burr-free sharpening of needles.

 In grinding of super-alloy turbine blades.

 In form grinding of aerospace honeycomb metals.

 In removal of fatigue cracks from steel structures that have been used for under water
applications.

Electro-Chemical Honing

 Electrochemical honing is one of the non-equilibrium gap processes in ECM and is a

new technique, which in spite of being used in some industrial plants especially to
smooth surfaces, is still not fully described due to the variety of the factors affecting
the process.
 A special honing tool was designed by using different tool tip shapes (rectangular,
circular, triangle & inclined) to study the ability for improving the surface roughness.

 This work presents a study for the factors affecting the electrochemical honing
process especially the machining time, work piece material, initial working gap, tool
rotational speed, tool tip shape and the inclined tool tip angle.

 The results are finally furnished with the aim to generalize a useful guideline for the
user to enable proper selection of conditions for obtaining good surface quality.

 SHAPED TUBE ELECTROLYTIC MACHINING



 S.T.E.M. is an acid electrolytic drilling technique for making long deep

precision holes in hard, corrosion resistant metals.
The technology is rare and similar to electrical discharge machining
(EDM) in that a high current is passed between an electrode and the part,
through an electrolytic material removal process having a negatively
charged electrode, a conductive fluid, and a conductive work piece.
There is little tool wear associated with this process and unlike EDM,
however, no sparks are created. High metal removal rates are possible
with STEM Drilling, with no thermal or mechanical stresses being
transferred to the part.
This process can offer shaped (i.e. not just round), simultaneous multi-
hole drilling, completely stress free and suitable for the hardest materials.
 This process is ideal where the design calls for no recast layer and hence
no potential weakening of the parent material, making this process ideal
for creating cooling holes in turbine components.
STEM technology enables us to produce a range of drilling profiles,
including radial holes, trailing edge holes, film cooling holes, platform
and tabulated holes. Drilling is safe, deep and extremely precise, with
 depth to diameter ratios up to 300:1 and diameters as small as
0.5mm/0.020”.
 Components made using this technology include; Turbine blades and
vanes for both Aero and IGT



 Unit-IV
Electron Discharge Machining

Close view of EDM region

 It is a process of metal removal based on the principle of material removal by an

interrupted electric spark discharge between the electrode tool and the work piece.

 In EDM, a potential difference is applied between the tool and workpiece.

 Essential - Both tool and work material are to be conductors.

 The tool and work material are immersed in a dielectric medium.

  Generally kerosene or deionised water is used as the dielectric medium.

 A constant gap is maintained between the tool and the workpiece.

 Depending upon the applied potential difference (50 to 450 V) and the gap between
the tool and workpiece, an electric field would be established.

Generally the tool is connected to the negative terminal (cathode) of the generator and the
workpiece is connected to positive terminal (anode).

 This allows current to flow between the two electrodes.

 This phenomenon is the same as the breakdown of a capacitor.

 As a result, material is removed from both the electrodes.

 Once the current flow stops, new liquid dielectric is usually conveyed into the
electrode zone enabling the solid particles (debris) to be carried away.

 Adding new liquid dielectric in the electrode volume is commonly referred to as

flushing.

 Also, after a current flow, a difference of potential between the two electrodes is
restored to what it was before the breakdown, so that a new liquid dielectric
breakdown can occur.

 EDM is a machining method primarily used for hard metals or those that would be
very difficult to machine with traditional techniques.

EDM can cut intricate contours or cavities in hardened steel without the need for heat
treatment to soften and re-harden them.

 As the electric field is established between the tool and the job, the free electrons on
the tool are subjected to electrostatic forces.

 If the bonding energy of the electrons is less, electrons would be emitted from the
tool.

 Such emission of electrons are called or termed as ‘cold emission’.

 The “cold emitted” electrons are then accelerated towards the job through the
dielectric medium.

 As they gain velocity and energy, and start moving towards the job, there would be
collisions between the electrons and dielectric molecules.

 Such collision may result in ionization of the dielectric molecule.

 Ionization is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or

positive charge by gaining or losing electrons to form ions,
  Ionization depends on the ionization energy of the dielectric molecule and the energy
of the electron.

 As the electrons get accelerated, more positive ions and electrons would get generated
due to collisions.

 This cyclic process would increase the concentration of electrons and ions in the
dielectric medium between the tool and the job at the spark gap.

 The concentration would be so high that the matter existing in that channel could be
characterised as “plasma”.

 The electrical resistance of such plasma channel would be very less.

 Thus all of a sudden, a large number of electrons will flow from tool to job and ions
from job to tool.

 Such movement of electrons and ions can be visually seen as a spark.

 Thus the electrical energy is dissipated as the thermal energy of the spark.

 The high speed electrons then impinge on the job and ions on the tool.

 The kinetic energy of the electrons and ions on impact with the surface of the job and
tool respectively would be converted into thermal energy or heat flux.

 Such intense localized heat flux leads to extreme instantaneous confined rise in
temperature which would be in excess of 10,000oC.

 Such localized extreme rise in temperature leads to material removal.

 Material removal occurs due to instant vaporization of the material as well as due to
melting.

 The molten metal is not removed completely but only partially.

 Upon withdrawal of potential difference, plasma channel collapses.

 This ultimately creates compression shock waves on both the electrode surface.

 Particularly at high spots on work piece surface, which are closest to the tool.

 This evacuates molten material and forms a crater around the site of the spark.

 The whole sequence of operation occurs within a few microseconds.

EDM Process parameters

The waveform is characterised by the

• The open circuit voltage - Vo

• The working voltage - Vw

• The maximum current - Io

• The pulse on time – the duration for which the voltage pulse is applied – ton

• The pulse off time - toff

• The gap between the work piece and the tool – spark gap - δ

• The polarity – straight polarity – tool (-ve)

• The dielectric medium

• External flushing through the spark gap.

EDM Components

 The main components in EDM:

 Electric power supply

 Dielectric medium

 Work piece & tool

 Servo control unit.

 The work piece and tool are electrically connected to a DC power supply.

 The current density in the discharge of the channel is of the order of 10000 A/cm 2 and
power density is nearly 500 MW/cm2.

 Dielectric slurry is forced through this gap at a pressure of 2 kgf/cm2 or lesser.

A gap, known as SPARK GAP in the range, from 0.005 mm to 0.05 mm is maintained
between the work piece and the tool.
EDM – Electrode Material

 Electrode material should be such that it would not undergo much tool wear when it is
impinged by positive ions.

 Further, the tool should be easily workable as intricate shaped geometric features are
machined in EDM.

 Thus the basic characteristics of electrode materials are:

 High electrical conductivity – electrons are cold emitted more easily and
there is less bulk electrical heating.

 High thermal conductivity – for the same heat load, the local temperature
rise would be less due to faster heat conducted to the bulk of the tool and thus
less tool wear.

 Higher density – for less tool wear and thus less dimensional loss or
inaccuracy of tool

 High melting point – high melting point leads to less tool wear due to less
tool material melting for the same heat load

 Easy manufacturability

 Cost – cheap

 The followings are the different electrode materials which are used commonly in the
industry:

 Graphite

 Electrolytic oxygen free copper

 Brass

EDM – Dielectric

 In EDM, material removal mainly occurs due to thermal evaporation and melting.

 As thermal processing is required to be carried out in absence of oxygen so that the

process can be controlled and oxidation avoided.

 Oxidation often leads to poor surface conductivity (electrical) of the workpiece

hindering further machining.

 Hence, dielectric fluid should provide an oxygen free machining environment.

 Further it should have enough strong dielectric resistance so that it does not
breakdown electrically too easily.
  But at the same time, it should ionize when electrons collide with its molecule.

 Moreover, during sparking it should be thermally resistant as well.

Generally kerosene and deionised water is used as dielectric fluid in EDM.

 Dielectric medium is generally flushed around the spark zone.

 It is also applied through the tool to achieve efficient removal of molten material.

 Three important functions of a dielectric medium in EDM:

1. Insulates the gap between the tool and work, thus preventing a spark to form
until the gap voltage are correct.

2. Cools the electrode, workpiece and solidifies the molten metal particles.

3. Flushes the metal particles out of the working gap to maintain ideal cutting
conditions, increase metal removal rate.

 It must be filtered and circulated at constant pressure.

 The main requirements of the EDM dielectric fluids are adequate viscosity, high flash
point, good oxidation stability, minimum odor, low cost, and good electrical discharge
efficiency.

 For most EDM operations kerosene is used with certain additives that prevent gas
bubbles and de-odoring.

 Silicon fluids and a mixture of these fluids with petroleum oils have given excellent
results.

 Other dielectric fluids with a varying degree of success include aqueous solutions of
ethylene glycol, water in emulsions, and distilled water.

EDM – Flushing

 One of the important factors in a successful EDM operation is the removal of debris
(chips) from the working gap.

 Flushing these particles out of the working gap is very important, to prevent them
from forming bridges that cause short circuits.

 Flushing – process of introducing clean filtered dielectric fluid into spark gap.

 If flushing is applied incorrectly, it can result in erratic(not even) cutting and poor
machining conditions.

 Flushing of dielectric plays a major role in the maintenance of stable machining and
the achievement of close tolerance and high surface quality.
  Inadequate flushing can result in decreased electrode life, and increased production
time.

Characteristics of EDM

 The process can be used to machine any work material if it is electrically conductive .
Tolerance value of + 0.05 mm could be easily achieved by EDM.

 Material removal depends on mainly thermal properties of the work material rather
than its strength, hardness etc .

 In EDM there is a physical tool and geometry of the tool is the positive impression of
the hole or geometric feature machined

 The tool has to be electrically conductive as well. The tool wear once again depends
on the thermal properties of the tool material.

 Best surface finish that can be economically achieved on steel is 0.40 mm.

 Though the local temperature rise is rather high, still due to very small pulse on time,
there is not enough time for the heat to diffuse and thus almost no increase in bulk
temperature takes place. Thus the heat affected zone is limited to 2 – 4 μm of the
spark crater

 However rapid heating and cooling and local high temperature leads to surface
hardening which may be desirable in some applications

 Though there is a possibility of taper cut and overcut in EDM, they can be controlled
and compensated.

 The volume of the material removed per spark discharge is typically in the range of
(1/1,000,000) to (1/10,000) mm3.
Modelling of Material Removal and Product Quality

 Material removal in EDM mainly occurs due to intense localised heating almost by
point heat source for a rather small time frame. Such heating leads to melting and
crater formation as shown in Fig.

The molten crater can be assumed to be hemispherical in nature with a radius r which forms
due to a single pulse or spark. Hence material removal in a single spark can be expressed as

 A part of this spark energy gets lost in heating the dielectric, and rest is distributed
between the impinging electrons and ions. Thus the energy available as heat at the
work piece is given by

 Now it can be logically assumed that material removal in a single spark would be
proportional to the spark energy. Thus

 Now material removal rate is the ratio of material removed in a single spark to cycle
time. Thus
  MRR in practice does increase with increase in working voltage, current, pulse on
time and decreases with increase in pulse off time.

 No two sparks take place side by side. They occur completely randomly so that over
time one gets uniform average material removal over the whole tool cross section. But
for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that sparks occur side by side as shown in Fig.

Thus it may be noted that surface roughness in EDM would increase with increase in spark
energy and surface finish can be improved by decreasing working voltage, working current
and pulse on time.

In EDM, the spark occurs between the two nearest point on the tool and work piece. Thus
machining may occur on the side surface as well leading to overcut and tapercut.

Product quality is a very important characteristic of a manufacturing process along with

MRR.

The followings are the product quality issues in EDM

Surface finish

Overcut

Tapercut
  Taper cut can be prevented by suitable insulation of the tool. Overcut cannot be
prevented as it is inherent to the EDM process. But the tool design can be done in
such a way so that same gets compensated.

Wire cut EDM

 Also known as wire-cut EDM and wire cutting.

 A thin single-strand metal wire (usually brass) is fed through the workpiece
submerged in a tank of dielectric fluid (typically deionized water).

 Used to cut plates as thick as 300 mm and to make punches, tools, and dies from hard
metals that are difficult to machine with other methods.

 Uses water as its dielectric fluid; its resistivity and other electrical properties are
controlled with filters and de-ionizer units.

 The water flushes the cut debris away from the cutting zone.

 Flushing is an important factor in determining the maximum feed rate for a given
material thickness.

 Commonly used when low residual stresses are desired, because it does not require
high cutting forces for material removal.

 Wire Electric Discharge Machining is a special form of EDM that uses a small
diameter wire as the electrode to cut a narrow kerf in the work.

 The workpiece is fed continuously and slowly past the wire in order to achieve the
desired cutting path. Numerical control is used to control the work-part motions
during cutting.

 As it cuts, the wire is continuously advanced between a supply spool and a take-up
spool to present a fresh electrode of constant diameter to the work. This helps to
maintain a constant kerf width during cutting.

 As in EDM, wire EDM must be carried out in the presence of a dielectric. This is
applied by nozzles directed at the tool-work interface as in the figure, or the workpart
is submerged in a dielectric bath.
  Wire diameters range from 0.08 to 0.30 mm, depending on required kerf width.
Materials used for the wire include brass, copper, tungsten, and molybdenum.
Dielectric fluids include deionized water or oil.

 As in EDM, an overcut in the range from 0.02 to 0.05 mm exists in wire EDM that
makes the kerf larger than the wire diameter.

 This process is well suited to production of dies for sheet metalworking, cams, etc.
Since the kerf is so narrow, it is often possible to fabricate punch and die in a single
cut

Applications of WCEDM

 Wire EDM is used for cutting aluminium, brass, copper, carbides, graphite, steels and
titanium.

 The wire material varies with the application requirements. Example: for quicker
cutting action, zinc-coated brass wires are used while for more accurate applications,
molybdenum wires are used.

 The process is used in the following areas:

 Aerospace, Medical, Electronics and Semiconductor

applications

 Tool & Die making industries.

 For cutting the hard Extrusion Dies

 In making Fixtures, Gauges & Cams

 Cutting of Gears, Punches and Dies

 Manufacturing hard Electrodes.

 Manufacturing micro-tooling for Micro-EDM, Micro-USM and

such other micromachining applications.

Sinker EDM
 Sinker EDM, also called cavity type EDM or volume EDM or Ram EDM.

 Consists of an electrode and workpiece submerged in an insulating liquid such as oil

or other dielectric fluids.

 The electrode and workpiece are connected to a suitable power supply.

 The power supply generates an electrical potential between the two parts.

 As the electrode approaches the workpiece, dielectric breakdown occurs in the fluid,
forming a plasma channel, and a small spark jumps.

 These sparks happen in huge numbers at seemingly random locations.

 As the base metal is eroded, and the spark gap subsequently increased, the electrode is
lowered automatically so that the process can continue.

 Several hundred thousand sparks occur per second, with the actual duty cycle
carefully controlled by the setup parameters.

 These controlling cycles are sometimes known as "on time" and "off time“.

 The on time setting determines the length or duration of the spark.

 Hence, a longer on time produces a deeper cavity for that spark and all subsequent
sparks for that cycle.

 This creates rougher finish on the workpiece.

 The reverse is true for a shorter on time.

 Off time is the period of time that one spark is replaced by another.
  A longer off time, for example, allows the flushing of dielectric fluid through a nozzle
to clean out the eroded debris, thereby avoiding a short circuit.

 These settings can be maintained in micro seconds.

 The typical part geometry is a complex 3D shape, often with small or odd shaped
angles

Advantages of EDM

Limitations of EDM
Applications of EDM
 UNIT-V
Electron Beam Machining

 Electron Beam Machining (EBM) and Laser Beam Machining (LBM) are thermal
processes considering the mechanisms of material removal.

 However electrical energy is used to generate high-energy electrons in case of

Electron Beam Machining (EBM) and high-energy coherent photons in case of Laser
Beam Machining (LBM).

 Thus these two processes are often classified as electro-optical-thermal processes.

 Electron beam machining (EBM) is one of several industrial processes that use
electron beams.

 Electron beam machining uses a high-velocity stream of electrons focused on the

work piece surface to remove material by melting and vaporization.

 An electron beam gun generates a continuous stream of electrons that are focused
through an electromagnetic lens on the work surface.

 The electrons are accelerated with voltages of approx. 150,000 V to create velocities
over 200,000 km/s.

 The lens is capable of reducing the area of the beam to a diameter as small as 0.025
mm.

 On impinging the surface, the kinetic energy of the electrons is converted into thermal
energy of extremely high density, which vaporizes the material in a very localized
area.

 EBM must be carried out in a vacuum chamber to eliminate collision of the electrons
with gas molecules.

 Electron beam machining is used for a variety of high-precision cutting applications

on any known material.

 Applications include drilling of extremely small diameter holes, down to 0.05 mm

diameter, drilling of holes with very high depth-to-diameter ratios, more than 100:1,
and cutting of slots that are only about 0.025 mm wide.

 Besides machining, other applications of the technology include heat treating and
welding.

 The process is generally limited to thin parts in the range from 0.2 to 6 mm thick.

 Other limitations of EBM are the need to perform the process in a vacuum, the high
energy required, and the expensive equipment.

 One of the major requirements of EBM operation of electron beam gun is

maintenance of desired vacuum. Level of vacuum within the gun is in the order of 10 -4
to 10-6 Torr. {1 Torr = 1mm of Hg}

 Maintenance of suitable vacuum is essential so that electrons do not loose their energy
and a significant life of the cathode cartridge is obtained. Such vacuum is achieved
and maintained using a combination of rotary pump and diffusion pump
Advantages of EBM

 Very small size holes can be produced.

 Surface finish produced is good.

 High penetration to width can be obtained, which is difficult with other machining
processes.

 High precision of machining is possible.

 Distortion is less due to less heat affected zone.

 Low operating cost.

 Cleaning cost is negligible.

 Reactive materials like Al, Mg, beryllium, titanium etc. can be machined very easily.

 Materials of high melting point like columbium, tungsten etc. can be machined.

 High material removal rate.

Limitations of EBM

 Material removal rate is very low compared to other convectional machining

processes.

 Maintaining perfect vacuum is very difficult.

 Work piece material should be electrically conducting.

 Very high equipment cost.

 High vacuum is required.

 High safety measures are required.

 Large jobs are difficult to machine.

 Skilled man power is required.

Applications of EBM

 Used for producing very small size holes like holes in diesel injection nozzles, Air
brakes etc.

 Electron beam machining process is mostly used in machining of refractive materials

like columbium, tungsten, ceramic etc. which are used in missiles.

 In space shuttle applications wherein reactive materials like beryllium, zirconium,

titanium etc. are used.

 In high precession machining for electronic components, nuclear fuel elements,

special alloy jet engine components and pressure vessels for rocket plants.

Laser Beam Machining

 Laser machining is a technology that uses a laser beam (narrow beam of intense
monochromatic light) to cut required shapes or profile or pattern in almost all types of
materials.

 Some of the examples include metals, ceramics, food products, leather etc. In this
process, the output of a high power laser beam is directed in a programmed manner
towards the material required to be cut.

 The high amount of heat thus generated either melts, burns, or vaporizes away the
material at the focused region. The process can be used to make precise holes in thin
sheets and materials.

 The laser beam cutting finds its applications in a variety of fields. The fields where
laser beam has been successfully used are cloth and plastic cutting, laser marking,
laser welding, laser drilling, cleaning and surface treatments.

 The word laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of
Radiation. When an atom absorbs a quantum of energy from a light source, the orbital
electron of an atom jumps to a higher energy level.

 The electron later drops to its original orbit and emits the absorbed energy. If the
electron, which is already at high energy level, absorbs the second quantum of energy,
it emits two quanta of energy and after emitting the energy it returns back to its
original orbit.

 The energy that is radiated has the same wave length as the simulating energy. The
laser material when placed in an optical cavity and exposed to light energy keeps
storing the energy.

 The energy initially builds up in the laser material and finally gets emitted in the form
of a highly amplified light beam.
Mechanism of material removal/ cutting using laser beam

The mechanism of material removal by laser beam is given in the following steps:

 Place the work piece on the table. As there is absence of cutting forces, fewer work
holding devices are needed.

 The focal point of the laser is intentionally focused onto the surface of the work piece
for providing the heat in a concentric manner.

 Due to the striking of laser beam, heat is generated at the work-piece surface and as a
result, the material vaporizes instantly, producing kerf in the material.

 The movement of machine-axis is through the computer control which helps to

achieve the required profiles on the work piece. Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) is
minimal in laser as compared to flame cutting.

 To clear the molten metal that has yet not vaporized or clogged on the surface of the
workpiece, the assist gas, (inert gas or exothermic gas is used for this propose) under
pressure is passed on-to the workpiece

Classification of Laser Beams

Types of Lasers

 Solid-state lasers are commonly of the following type

 Ruby which is a chromium – alumina alloy having a wavelength of 0.7 μm

  Nd-glass lasers having a wavelength of 1.64 μm

 Nd-YAG laser having a wavelength of 1.06 μm

(Neodymium-doped, Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet (Y3Al5O12))

 The generally used gas lasers are

 Helium – Neon

 Argon

 CO2 etc.

 Lasers can be operated in continuous mode or pulsed mode.

 Typically CO2 gas laser is operated in continuous mode and Nd – YAG laser is
operated in pulsed mode.

 The Co2 laser is more powerful amongst these lasers and is primarily used for cutting
and profiling. It is capable of cutting up to 25mm thick carbon steels. This laser beam,
because of the spread after its focal point, tends to create a tapered cut.

 The Nd: YAG laser is suitable for drilling small holes (2-3 microns) to a depth
approximately six times diameter. It can also be used for engraving and etching. A
significant advantage of the Nd: YAG laser is that the beam can be transmitted
 through fiber-optic cables. This property/characteristic makes it useful for welding
applications.

Solid State Laser

Advantages of LBM

 The ability to cut almost all materials.

 No limit to cutting paths as the laser point can move in any paths.

 No cutting lubricants are required

 As there is an absence of direct contact between the tool and work piece; thus no
forces are induced and as a result it is not necessary to provide the work holding
system to hold the work piece.

 Flexibility exists in precision cutting of simple or complex parts.

 There is no tooling cost or associated wear costs due to it (No tool wear ).

 Laser produces high quality cuts without extra finishing requirements.

 The process is stress less allowing very fragile materials to be laser cut without any
support.

 Very hard and abrasive material can be cut.

 Narrow heat effected zone

Disadvantages of LBM

 Laser processes involve high capital investments and high operating costs.

 Laser holes are tapered to some extent (approximately 1% of the drill depth)
  Heat affected through the lasers may change the mechanical properties of the metallic
materials and alloys

 The processing time in larger holes is slower due to trepanning action (process)
involved in it.

 Reflected laser lights can lead to safety hazards.

 Assist or cover gases are required for safety purposes.

 High maintenance cost

 Thermal process – not suitable for heat sensitive materials like aluminium glass fibre
laminate

Applications of LBM

 One of the problems associated with the conventional approach in cutting of tough
materials such as titanium alloy is that, at high cutting speeds the life of the cutting
tool is very short. As the titanium alloys are used extensively in the aerospace
industry, there is a tremendous interest and curiosity for developing this technique
especially for enabling higher cutting rates.

 LBM can make very accurate holes as small as 0.005 mm in refractory metals
ceramics, and composite material without warping the work pieces. This process is
used widely for drilling and cutting of metallic and non-metallic materials. Laser
beam machining is being used extensively in the electronic and automotive industries.
 UNIT-VI
Plasma Arc Machining

 Plasma Gun

Gases are used to create plasma like, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen or mixture of these
gases. The plasma gun consists of a tungsten electrode fitted in the chamber. The electrode is
given negative polarity and nozzle of the gun is given positive polarity. Supply of gases is
maintained into the gun. arc is established between the two terminals anode and cathode.
There is a collision between molecules of gas and electrons of the established arc. As a result
of this collision gas molecules get ionized and heat is evolved. This hot and ionized gas
called plasma is directed to the work piece with high velocity. The established arc is
controlled by the supply rate of gases.

 Power Supply and Terminals

Power supply (DC) is used to develop two terminals in the plasma gun. A tungsten
electrode is inserted to the gun and made cathode and nozzle of the gun is made anode.
Heavy potential difference is applied across the electrodes to develop plasma state of gases.

 Cooling Mechanism

As we know that hot gases continuously comes out of nozzle so there are chances of
its over heating. A water jacket is used to surround the nozzle to avoid its overheating.

 Tooling

There is no direct visible tool used in PAM. Focused spray of hot, plasma state gases
works as a cutting tool.

 Work piece
 Work piece of different materials can be processed by PAM process. These materials
are aluminium, magnesium, stainless steels and carbon and alloy steels. All those material
which can be processed by LBM can also be processed by PAM process.

In this process gases are heated and charged to plasma state. Plasma state is the
superheated and electrically ionized gases at approximately 5000oC. These gases are directed
on the work piece in the form of high velocity stream.

Advantages Of PAM

 It gives faster production rate.

 Very hard and brittle metals can be machined.

 Small cavities can be machined with good dimensional accuracy

 It cuts carbon steel up to 10 times faster than oxy-fuel cutting, with equal quality more
economically.

 It leaves narrower kerfs.

 Plasma cutting being primarily a melting process can cut any metal.

Disadvantages Of PAM

 Its initial cost is very high.

 The process requires over safety precautions which further enhance the initial cost of
the setup.

 Some of the work piece materials are very much prone to metallurgical changes on
excessive heating so this fact imposes limitations to this process.

 It is uneconomical for bigger cavities to be machined.

 Noise during machining .

 Process is complicated and requires skilled man power.

 Gas consumption is high.

Applications of PAM

 Plasma cutting is used to cut particularly those nonferrous and stainless metals that
cannot be cut by the usual rapid oxidation induced by ordinary flame torches.

 Plasma cutting can be used for plate bevelling, shape cutting and piercing.

 With some modifications, plasma arc cutting can be used under water.
  Plasma arc cutting finds applications in many industries such as shipyard, chemical,
aeronautical, nuclear and pressure vessel.

 It is used for removing gates and risers in foundry.

 It cuts hot extrusions to desired length.

 It is used to cut any desired pipe contour.

TYPES OF PLASMA ARC CUTTING

Conventional PAM Dual flow PAM

In Conventional Plasma Arc Cutting, the arc is constricted by a nozzle only; no shielding gas
is added. Generally, the cutting gas is tangentially injected the electrode.

The swirling action of the gas causes the cooler portions of the gas to move radially outward,
forming a protective boundary layer on the inside of the nozzle bore. This helps prevent
damage to the nozzle and extends its life.

Electrode life is also improved. Since the arc attachment point (cathode) is forced to move
about and distribute its heat load more uniformly.

 Dual-flow PAC is a slight modification of conventional PAC It incorporates most of

the features of conventional PAC but adds a secondary shielding gas is secondary
shielding gas around the nozzle.

 The cutting gas is usually nitrogen the shielding gas is selected according to the metal
to be cut. Cutting speeds are slightly better than those of conventional PAC on mild
steel, but the cut quality is not acceptable for some applications. Cutting speed and
quality on stainless steel and aluminum are essentially the same as with conventional
PAC.
Chemical machining

 The main working principle of chemical machining is chemical etching. The part of
the work piece whose material is to be removed, is brought into the contact of
chemical called enchant.

 The metal is removed by the chemical attack of enchant. The method of making
contact of metal with the enchant is masking. The portion of work piece where no
material is to be removed, is mashed before chemical etching.

 There are different chemical machining methods base on this like chemical milling,
chemical blanking, photochemical machining, etc.

Process Details of CHM

Cleaning
  The first step of the process is a cleaning of work piece, this is required to ensure that
material will be removed uniformly from the surfaces to be processed.

Masking

 Masking is similar to masking action is any machining operation. This is the action of
selecting material that is to be removed and another that is not to be removed. The
material which is not to be removed is applied with a protective coating called
maskant.

 This is made of a materials are neoprene, polyvinylchloride, polyethylene or any

other polymer. Thinkers of maskent is maintained upto 0.125 mm. The portion of
work piece having no application of maskent is etched during the process of etching.

Etching

 In this step the material is finally removed. The work piece is immersed in the etchant
where the material of work piece having no protective coating is removed by the
chemical action of enchant. Enchant is selected depending on the work piece material
and rate of material removal; and surface finish required.

 There is a necessity to ensure that maskant and enchant should be chemically in

active. Common enchants are H2SO4, FeCL3, HNO3. Selection of enchant also affects
MRR. As in CHM process, MRR is indicated as penetration rates (mm/min).
Properties of etchant

Chemical Milling

 It is widely used in aircraft industry. It is the preparation of complicated

geometry on the work piece using CHM process.

Chemical Blanking

 In this application cutting is done on sheet metal work pieces.

 Metal blanks can be cut from very thin sheet metal, this cutting may not be possible
by conventional methods.

Photochemical Machining
  It is used in metal working when close (tight) tolerances and intricate patterns are to
be made.

This is used to produce intricate circuit designs on semiconductor wafers

Advantages

 Easy weight reduction

 No effect of work piece materials properties such as hardness

 No burr formation

 No stress introduction to the work piece

 Low capital cost of equipment

 Easy and quick design changes

  Requirement of less skilled worker

 Low tooling costs

 The good surface quality

 Using decorative part production

 Low scrap rates (3%)

 Multiple machining can be done on a work piece simultaneously

 No application of force so on risk of damage to delicate or low strength work piece

 Machining of hard and brittle material is possible

Disadvantages

 Slower process, very low MRR so high cost of operation.

 Sharp corners cannot be prepared.

 Difficult to get sharp corner

 Difficult to chemically machine thick material (limit is depended on work piece

material, but the thickness should be around maximum 10 mm) Small thickness of
metal can be removed.

 Scribing accuracy is very limited, causes less dimensional accuracy

 Etchants are very dangerous for workers

 Etchant disposals are very expensive