Non conventional Machining

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 Limitations of Conventional Machining Methods

 Increased workpiece hardness : decreased economic cutting speed. Hence,

lower productivity.
 Rapid improvements in the properties of materials (hardness, strength, etc)
 Requires much superior quality of tool materials.
 Tool material hardness should be greater than workpiece hardness.

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 Evolution of Non Conventional Machining Processes

 Many Engineering materials are having much superior properties such as ultra high
strength , hardness, very high temperature resistance difficult to machine by
conventional machining methods.
 Ex :Tungsten Carbide, Stainless Steel, Titanium and its alloys etc.
 If work piece material hardness is greater than the tool material hardness.

How are we going to machine such a work piece material ?

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 Product Requirement
 Complex shapes
 Machining in inaccessible areas
 Low tolerances (say, 0.01 mm)
 Better surface integrity (no surface defects, etc.)
 High surface finish (Nano-level Ra value)
 Miniaturization of products (examples: landline phone & mobile, old computers &
laptop, etc.)
 High MRR
 High production rate while processing difficult to machine.
 Low cost of production .
 Precision and ultraprecision machining
 Requires material removal in the form of atoms and / or molecules
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 Classification of Non Conventional Machining

Non Conventional Machining

Mechanical Thermoelectric Electrochemical & Chemical

Abrasive Jet Machining (AJM) PlasmaArc Machining (PAM) ElectroChemical Machining (ECM)
Machining Processes

Ultra Sonic Machining (USM) LaserBeamMachining (LBM) ElectroChemical grinding (ECG)

Water Jet Machining (WJM) Electron BeamMachining (EBM) ElectroJet Drilling (EJD)

Abrasive Water Jet Machining Electric DischargeMachining (EDM) Chemical Machining (CHM)
Finishing Processes

Abrasive Flowmachining Ion BeamMachining PhotoChemical Milling (PCM)

Magnetic AbrasiveMachining

Magnetorheological Finishing Indian Institute of Technology Madras

 Water jet Machining
High velocity water jet used for machining purpose

Commercial CNC water jet machining system and cutting heads

(Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA)
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 Materials that can be machined:
Steels
• Concrete
Non-ferrous alloys
• Stone – Granite
Ti alloys, Ni- alloys
• Wood
Polymers
• Reinforced plastics
Honeycombs
• Metal Polymer Laminates
Metal Matrix Composite
• Glass Fibre Metal Laminates
Ceramic Matrix Composite

• WJM is typically used to cut so called “softer” and “easy-to-machine” materials.

• AWJM is used for “harder and “difficult-to machine” materials

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Stainless steel plate (50 mm thick)
machined with AWJ (Photograph
Courtesy – Omax Corporation,
USA)
Different engineering components machined with AWJ
(Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA)

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Components in Water Jet Machining

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 flexible stainless steel pipes
carries water at 4000 bar
Setup of WJM:
1. LP Booster
2. Hydraulic drive
3. Additive mixer
4. Direction control Valve
5. Intensifier
5A. LP Intensifier
5B. HP Intensifier
6. Accumulator

Schematic set-up of WJM

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Intensifier:

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 Intensifier – Schematic
Intensifier:
• Intensifier delivers high pressure water.
• The heart of the hydraulic power pack is a
positive displacement hydraulic pump.
• The hydraulic power pack delivers the
hydraulic oil to the intensifier at a pressure
of ph .
• The pressure amplification taking place at
the small cylinder is by:
• 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.

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Abrasive Water Jet Machining

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Ultra Sonic Machining

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 Ultra Sonic Machining…….
 Nontraditional machining process in which abrasives contained in a slurry are
driven at high velocity against the work by a tool vibrating at low amplitude and
high frequency.
 The amplitudes are around 0.075 mm and the frequencies are approximately
20,000 Hz.

Grit
The size
tool oscillates in a direction
ranges between 100 andperpendicular to the work surface, and is fed
slowlyThe
2000. intovibration
the work, so that the
amplitude shape of the tool is formed in the part.
should
be set approximately equal to the grit
size, and the gap size should be
maintained at about two times grit size.
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 Ultra Sonic Machining…….
Applications:

 Machine hard, brittle work materials, such as

ceramics, glass, and carbides.
 Metals, such as stainless steel and titanium.
 Shapes such as non-round holes, holes along a
curved axis, and coining operations, in which an
image pattern on the tool is imparted to a flat
work surface.

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Advantages of USM:
 Machining of brittle and hard material with high precision.
 It can machine fragile materials such glass and non-conductive metals which are not machined by other
non-traditional methods such as EDM & ECM.
 It is capable of producing high tolerance parts.
 There is no distortion produced in the worked material.
 There is no change observed in the physical properties of the material.

Disadvantages of USM:
 The metal removal is slow due to micro chipping or erosion mechanism.
 The wear of sonotrode tip occurs more quickly.
 The machining of deep holes is not easy.
 Ultrasonic vibration machining can be used only to machine materials that have hardness
value atleast 45 HRC (HRC: Rockwell Scale to measure hardness of a material).
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 Laser Beam Machining
 Lasers are being used for a variety of
industrial applications, including heat
treatment, welding, measurement as well
as scribing, cutting, and drilling (described
here)
 The term laser stands for Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation
 It is monochromatic ang highly collimated.
 Light generated by a laser to be focused, Laser Cutting
using conventional optical lenses, onto a
very small spot with resulting high power
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 Laser Beam Machining ……..

 Laser beam machining (LBM) uses the light energy

from a laser to remove material by vaporization and
ablation.
 The types of lasers used in LBM are carbon dioxide gas
lasers and solid-state lasers.
 The light beam is pulsed so that the released energy
results in an impulse against the work surface that
produces a combination of evaporation and melting,
with the melted material evacuating the surface at high
velocity.
 LBM is used to perform various types of drilling, slitting,
slotting, scribing, and marking operations.
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Material removal Mechanism in Laser Beam Machining ……..

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Components Made by Laser Beam Machining

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Advantages of LBM:
 It can be focused to a very small diameter.
 It is capable of producing very accurately placed holes.
 Laser beam machining has the ability to cut or engrave almost all types of materials.
 There is no Mechanical distortion produced in the worked material.
 This machining process produces object of very high precision. And most of the object does not require
additional finishing

Disadvantages of LBM:
 High Initial Cost.
 Highly trained worker is required to operate laser beam machining machine.
 Low production rate since it is not designed for the mass production.
 It requires a lot of energy for machining process and high maintenance cost.

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 Electron Beam Machining
 Electron beam machining uses a high velocity
stream of electrons focused on the workpiece
surface to remove material by melting and
vaporization.
 An electron beam gun generates a
continuous stream of electrons that is
accelerated to approximately 75% of the
speed of light and focused through an
electromagnetic lens on the work surface.
 The lens is capable of reducing the area of
the beam to a diameter as small as 0.025
mm.
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Material Removal Mechanism in EBM

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Components Made by Electron Beam Machining

Electron beam drilling is ideally suited for small hole

diameters large numbers of holes and deep drilling.

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Advantages of EBM:
 It can be used for produce very small size hole in any shape.
 It can machining any material irrespective its hardness and other mechanical properties.
 It provides good surface finish. No any surface finishing process is require after EBM.
 Highly reacting material can be machine easily because machining is done under vacuum

Disadvantages of EBM:

 High capital cost.

 High skill operator required.
 Low material removal rate.
 Regular maintenance is required
 Material removal rate is very low compare to other conventional process.
 It is difficult to produce perfect vacuum

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 Ion Beam Machining
 Ion-beam machining or etching is generally a surface
finishing process in which the material removal takes place
by sputtering of ions.
 It consists of an electron gun which discharges free
electrons into a chamber filled with argon gas.
 The gas is then ionized by the electrons.
 The top of the chamber is called an Ion-Beam generating
apparatus.
 At the other end, the workpiece is fixed to a table which can
be oscillated and rotated so that different points on the work
surface can be subjected to ion-beam.

 Focused ion beams has become finest possible drill

machine ever possible and it can create of the smallest
brick as structural element Indian Institute of Technology Madras
  FIB can be used as a direct milling method to make microstructures without involving
complicated masks and pattern transfer processes.
 FIB machining has advantages of high feature resolution, and imposes no limitations on
fabrication materials and geometry

Material Removal Mechanism in Ion-Beam Machining

Depending on the ion energy, following

interactions can happen:
 Deposition
 Sputtering
 Re-deposition
 Implantation
 Backscattering
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Applications of IBM :
 It is applied mostly in micro-machining of electronic components.
 Typical materials that can be etched included glass, alumina, quartz, crystal, silica, agates,
porcelains, numerous metals, cermets and oxides.
 It is also be used to deposit materials such as platinum, tungsten and silicon oxide
insulators on another material substrate.
Advantages of IBM :
 IBM is almost universal.
 No chemical reagents or etching are required.
 Etching rates are easily controlled.
 There is no undercutting as with another chemical etching process.
Disadvantages of IBM :
 IBM is relatively expensive.
 Etching rates are slow.
 No heat is generated so there is little possibility of some thermal or radiation damage.
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 Electro Chemical Machining
 The electrolyte is pumped to the work region by the pump via a
filter, pressure gauge, flow meter and finally, it enters into the
work region from the passage.
 When the Power supply is given an optimum gap is maintained
between the tool and workpiece because of Faraday’s laws of
electrolysis, the ions have started displacing from the
workpiece and trying to deposit over the tool.
 Before the ions are depositing on the tool, the electrolyte
present between tool and workpiece is pumped out. Then, the
ions also moving along with electrolyte without depositing on
the tool.
 From the above, the mechanism of material removal is Ion
displacement and because there is no disturbance taking place
in the tool,. Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Applications of Electrochemical Machining Process:
 It is mainly used for producing Complex concave curvature components such as Turbine blades
etc.
 The ECM process is used for profiling and contouring, die sinking operation, drilling, trepanning
and micromachining.
Advantages of Electrochemical Machining Process:
 Complex Concave curvature components can be easily produced by using Complex Concave curvature
tools.
 Excellent Surface Finish.
 No residual stresses will be present because of no heat generation, no thermal effects are present on
the workpiece.
 Because of no tool
Disadvantages wear, the same toolMachining(ECM)
of Electrochemical can be used for producing an infinite number of components.
Process:
 Workpiece material must be electrically conductive.
 Highest specific cutting energy than other Unconventional machining and high cost
 This is preferable for producing contours only but not for holes.
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 Problem on Electro Discharge Machining

Q2. A metal removal rate of 164 mm 3/min is achieved in a certain EDM operation on a pure
iron workpart. What metal removal rate would be achieved on nickel in this EDM operation,
if the same discharge current were used?
𝐾𝐼
𝑀𝑅𝑅 = 1.23
𝑇𝑚

where RMR ¼ metal removal rate, mm3/s;

K = constant of proportionality whose value = 664 in SI units
I = discharge current, amps; and
Tm = melting temperature of work metal,
Melting points of selected metals are listed in Table

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Solution:
From Table, Melting point temperature of Iron, Tm = 1539°C for iron.
And Given MRR of iron = 164 mm3/min

𝐾𝐼
𝑀𝑅𝑅𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛 = 1.23
𝑇𝑚

𝐾𝐼 664 × 𝐼 164
MRR = 1.23
𝑇𝑚
=
15391.23
=
60
mm3/s => , Discharge current I = 34.26 amps
From Table , Melting point temperature for Nickel, Tm = 1455o C

𝐾𝐼 664 ×34.26
𝑀𝑅𝑅𝑁𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑙 = 1.23
𝑇𝑚
= 14551.23
= 2.2984 mm3/sec

The material removal rate of nickel is = 2.928 mm3/s

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 Problem on Water Jet Machining
Q. Assuming no losses, (a) determine water jet velocity, when the water pressure is 4000 bar,
being issued from an orifice of diameter 0.3 mm. (b) Determine the mass flow rate of water for the
given problem assuming all related coefficients to be 1. (c) If the mass flow rate of abrasive is 1
kg/min, determine the abrasive water jet velocity assuming no loss during mixing process. (d)
Determine depth of penetration, if a steel plate is AWJ machined at a traverse speed of 300
mm/min with an insert diameter of 1 mm. The specific energy of steel is 13.6 J/mm3

(a). water jet velocity 1 bar = 105 𝑚2/𝑠

2𝑃 2 × 4000 × 105
𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐽𝑒𝑡 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑉𝑤 = = = 894.42 𝑚/𝑠
𝜌𝑤 1000

Where P, is Water pressure in m2/s and 𝝆𝒘 is the density of the water

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(b). Mass flow rate of
water
𝜋 2
𝑚𝑤 = 𝜌𝑤. 𝑄𝑤 = 𝜌𝑤 . 𝑑0 𝑣𝑤 Where 𝝆𝒘 is the density of the water ,
𝑑
Qw is the rate of discharge,
𝜋 d0 is the orifice diameter is
𝑚𝑤 = 𝜌𝑤 . 𝑄𝑤 = 1000 × × 0.3 × 10−3 2
× 894.42
4 0.3 mm
vw is water jet velocity

𝑚𝑤 = 0.06322 𝑘𝑔/𝑠 = 3.79 𝑘𝑔/min

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(c). Abrasive Water Jet
velocity

1 1 𝒎𝒂𝒃𝒓
𝑉𝑎𝑤𝑗 = 𝑉𝑤 . = 𝑉𝑤 Where 𝑹 =
1+𝑅 𝑚 𝒎𝒘
1 + 𝑚𝑎𝑏𝑟
𝑤 m w is mass flow rate of water, = 3.79
kg/min
m abr is mass flow ate of abrasives = 1
1
𝑉𝑎𝑤𝑗 = 1 ×894.42 = 707.693 m/s kg/min
1+
3.79
vw is water jet velocity = 894.42 m/s

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(d). Depth of penetration
2 3
𝜋 2 1 𝑃2 2
ℎ𝑡 = 𝑑 0 . 𝑅
4 1+𝑅 𝑢𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑑𝑖𝑉𝑓 𝜌𝑤

𝒉𝒕 is depth of penetration
Vf traverse speed = 300 mm/ min
Ujob is specific energy of job (work piece) = 13.6 j/
mm3
P = pressure of the water = 4000 bar
𝒎𝒂𝒃𝒓
𝑹=
𝒎𝒘

m w is mass flow rate of water, = 3.79 kg/min

m abr is mass flow ate of abrasives = 1 kg/min
vw is water jet velocity = 894.42 m/s
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 2 5 32
𝜋 1 1 4000 × 10 2
ℎ𝑡 = 0.3 × 10−3 2
4 3.79 1 + 1 13.6 × 109 × 1 × 10−3 ×
300
× 10−3 1000
3.79 60

Depth of penetration= 0.07764 m = 77.64 mm

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