Unit 2 Conti…

USM Principle
• Conversion of low-frequency electrical energy to a high
frequency electrical signal, which is then fed to a transducer.

• The transducer converts the high frequency signal to high

frequency linear mechanical motion.

• High frequency motion is transmitted to the tool via mechanical

coupler (tool holder)

• Direction: parallel to the axis of the tool feed.

• Power of USM can range from 40 W to 2400 W.

USM Equipment
Power supply: high power sign wave that offers the user control over both frequency and
power of generated signal.

• It converts low fre. (60Hz) electrical power to high frequency (20kHz) electrical power.

Transducer:

• Converts energy from one form to another.

• Electrical energy to mechanical motion.

• Works on principle of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive.

USM Equipment
1. Piezoelectric transducers generate mechanical motion through piezoelectric effect by which
certain material such as quartz will generate a small electric current when compressed.

• When current applied: material increases minutely in size.

• When current removed : material instantly returns to original shape.

• Transducers available with power capacity 900 W

2. Magnetostrictive transducer constructed from laminated stack of nickel or nickel alloy sheet

• It will change its length when influenced by magnetic field.

USM Equipment
3. Tool holder:

• Function of tool holder is to attach and hold tool to transducer.

• Tool holder also transmit sonic energy to tool and sometimes also emplifies the length of the stroke at the tool.

• Hence tool holder must be detachable.

• Constructed from material having good acoustic properties and high resistant to fatigue and cracking.

• Tool holder attached by large, loose-fitting screw otherwise the ultrasonic weld would permanently bond tool
holder and transducer.

• Half hard copper washer are used between them to dampen and cushion the interface.

• Small amount of power loss.

USM Equipment
3. Tool holder:

• Tool holder material: Monel, Titanium and stainless steel.

• Titanium and Monel has best Acoustic property that it can be brazed.

• Tool holder type: Non-amplifying and amplifying.

• Non-amplifying: cylindrical and will give same stroke amplitude at the o.p and I.P end.

• Amplifying tool holder: modified cross section and are designed to increase the amplitude of the tool stroke as
much as 600%.

• It increases tool motion through stretching and relaxation of tool holder material.

• It removes material 10 times faster .

• But cost is high

USM Equipment
Tools:

• Constructed from ductile material : SS, Brass and MS.

• Harder the tool material faster its wear rate will be.

• W.p / tool wear ratio 1:1 to 100:1.

• Solid tools used to produce cavities made through machining, acasting or coining.

• Tool and tool holder should be free from scratch and heavy machining marks to avoid
early fatigue failure.
USM Equipment
Abrasives:

• Criteria for selection: hardness, usable life, and particle size.

• Most common; Boron carbide, silicon carbide and aluminium oxide

• Boron carbide: when machining hardest material or high MRR.

• Cost is 5 to 10 times.

• Life 200 machine operating hr.

• Abrasives range : 240 to 800 grit size.

• Coarse grit: higher MRR and rough surface.

• Most common: boron carbide with 320 – grit.

Process parameter of USM
• More power> larger the frontal cutting area.

• The amplitude of tool motion effects the MRR.

• MRR is proportional to square of the amplitude.

• Abrasive particle size strongly influence MRR.

• Ab. Particle size increases MRR in. proportionally.

• The higher the resonance freq. the higher the MRR.

EDM
• Process uses spark discharge to erode electrically conducted material

Power supply:

• It transform AC from main utility electric supply into pulsed DC required and required to produce the spark discharge at the

machining gap.

• First input power is converted to DC power by conventional solid state rectifiers.

• A small % of DC power is used to generate square wave signal via digital multi-vibrator oscillator circuit.

• This signal is used to trigger a bank of power transistors.

• The power transistor act as high speed switches to control the flow of the remaining DC power.

• This high power pulse output is delivered to workstation to create spark responsible for material removal.

• EDM power supply must be able to control pulse voltage, current, pulse duration, duty cycle, pulse frequency and electrode

polarity.
EDM Equipment
Dielectric system:

• It consists dielectric fluid, delivery devices, pumps and filter.

• Most common fluid : hydrocarbon, silicon based oils and deionized water.

• Deionized water: rarely used

• Because if high MRR and increased cooling capacity and high electrode wear.

• It is mostly used while drilling small dia holes.

• Three function of dielectric fluid: acts as insulators between electrode and wp., as coolant and as flushing
medium to remove the metal by-products.

• Dielectric fluid can be cleaned, recycled and returned to the cutting gap – most cost effective
EDM Equipment
Electrodes:

• It a tool that determines the shape of the hole or cavity.

• Imp consideration : electrode material and design.

• Material: graphite, copper and tungsten

• Requirement of electrode material : readily available, easily machinable, exhibit low wear,
electrically conductive and provide good surface finishing.

• Wear rate of graphite material is extremely low.

• Grain size of graphite electrodes affects wear rate, surface finis and MRR.
EDM Equipment
• Problem of over cut with electrode – predictable.

• Compensation of over cut must be considered.

• Allowance need to be made for electrode wear.

EDM Equipment
Servosystem:

• Servosystem is commanded by signals from gap voltage sensor system in power supply and
controls the infeed of electrode or work piece to precisely match the rate of Material removal.

• If the voltage sensor system determines that a piece of electrically conductive material has
bridged the gap between electrode and wp, the system will revers the direction until the
dielectric fluid flushes the gap clear.

• Dielectric slushing technique has direct effect on the function of servosyste.

• Nowadays automatic electrode changeres

EDM Equipment
Process parameters
• Parameters affect the most to accuracy and surface finish.

• Mostly manually selected parameters.

• From figure as current is increased each individual spark moves a large crater for metal from
w.p. hence net effect is inc. in MRR.

• Same effect is observed when spark voltage is raised.

• By increasing spark frequency and holding other parameters constant, results in decrease in
surface roughness.
EBM Principle
• thermal material removal process that utilizes focused beam of high velocity electrons.

• Material removal takes place when high velocity electrons strike the w.p.

• High kinetic energy of electrons is converted into the heat necessary for the rapid melting and
vaporization of material
EBM Equipment
• Electron beam gun: function is to generate, shape and deflects the electron beam to drill w.p.

• Combination of repelling forces from the negative cathode and the attracting forces from anode
causes free electrons to be accelerate in w.p direction

• After passing through anode, the electron beam is diverging rapidly and travelling at one-half the
speed of light.

• Magnetic coil- functions as magnetic lens and shapes the electron beam into a converging beam.

• Controllable beam deflection is achieved with deflection coil.

• To protect the electron beam gun from metal spatter and vapor, a series of rotating slotted disks
are mounted
Power supply

• High voltage power supply required.

• Most powerful machine is 150 kV.

• The most powerful machine can deliver enough power to operate guns at 12kW

• Power supply variable: acceleration current, focus current, pulse duration, are controlled by CNC unit

Electron beam machine system:

• Vacuum chamber required should have volume of at least 1 m3 to minimize chances of spatter sticking to the wall
chamber.

• Time required to pump the chamber to an operating level of 10^(-2)mbar is 3 min for each cubic meter of volume.

• Positioning system used to controlled manipulation of w.p.

Process Parameters
• Imp. Parameters: Beam current, pulse duration, lens current, and the beam deflection signal.

• Beam current is continuously adjustable from 100 micro ampere to 1 ampere.

• As beam current increased the energy per pulse delivered to w.p also inc.

• Pulse duration affects both the depth and the diameter of the hole.

• The longer the pulse duration, the wider the diameter and deeper the drilling depth.

• The lens current parameter determines the distance between the focal point and the electron beam gun and also determines

the size of the focused spot on wp.

• The diameter of the focused electron beam spot on the work piece will determine the diameter of the hole produced.

• By selecting different focal positions, the hole produced can be tapered, straight, inversely tapered, bell-shaped or centre

bowed.
ECM principle
• Chemical reaction depends upon the
particular combination of workpiece material
and the type of electrolyte being used.

• E.g when iron is machined with sodium

chloride electrolyte, the reaction will be:

• The by product will be hydrogen gas and

reddish brown sludge
ECM - Equipment
• Any machine or tooling that comes in contact with electrolyte must be made of stainless
steel, plastic or other corrosion resistant material.

• Drive units such as screw and motors must be protected by sealing and also require
positive pressurization with dry, clean air.

• ECM machine not even located near equipment such as inspection device or machine
tool that may be exposed to electrolyte mists.

• Removal of the hydrogen gas generated by process are made with simple explosion-
proof blowers that continuously purge the work chamber.
ECM - Equipment
• Electrolytes

• Its function is to act as a conductor to carry current to remove the products of electrochemical reaction from

gap and to remove the heat generated by process.

• Selection of chemical used as electrolyte is based upon the workpiece material, tool material, and

application.

1. Electrolyte composed of inorganic salts – that produce insoluble by-products – e.g sodium chloride,

potassium chloride, sodium nitrate and sodium chloride

2. Composed of acid or alkalis – that results in by-products that do go into solution.

• Sodium chloride is most commonly used material.

ECM - Equipment
• Sodium nitride less corrosive and good for machining aluminium and copper.

• Sodium nitride – causes passivity of the workpiece and does not produce surface finish as fine as

sodium chloride

• It is less expensive to purify the electrolyte than to use it once.

Purification system: filtration, settling and or centrifuge.

• Settling tank of large swimming pool size.

• Electrolyte is directed to tank from machine and Havier sludge particles settle because of gravity.

• Last method: use of centrifuges to separate the sludge by its mass.

ECM - Equipment
Electrochemical machine tool

• Criteria: it should be good electrical and thermal conductor, easily machinable, resist chemicals,
exhibit good stiffness and easily obtained.

• Material: copper, brass and stainless steel

• Tool design must allow for an overcut of 0.025 to 0.76 mm.

• Defect in the tool, such as bumps or pits will be transferred in reverse image on to w.p if not
removed.

• With proper design techniques – multiple details can be machined simultaneously.

• E.g. 50 small holes with multiple tool design.

ECM Parameters

• ECM removal rate is independent of material hardness is primarily controlled by current density.

• Process required sufficient current to maintain current density at w.p

• If all the parameters are constant: the tool penetration rate is directly proportional to current

density.

• Current density is also controlled by the size of the gap between the tool and the workpiece.

• Small gap – highest current density.

• Gap is 0.025mm to 0.76 mm.

• Large gap> current density reduced> poor surface finish> decreases MRR.
ECM Parameters
Velocity of electrolyte flow through gap is another imp parameter.

• If electrolyte velocity is too low> the heat and by-products of the reaction build in gap causing no

uniform material removal.

• A velocity that is too high will cause cavitation and uneven surface removal.

Electrolyte pressure and temperature:

• Electrolyte pressure is dependents upon the flow rate .

• The temperature of electrolyte between 24 to 65 cent.

• Amount of overcut depends upon feed rate.

• Low feed rate> large overcut, & high feed rate reduces the amount of overcut.
The Difference Between Conventional and Non-
Conventional Machining Process
Tools Used

• Conventional machining process must always have a physical tool present. For instance, a cutting tool in a Lathe machine. On

the other hand, there may not be a physical tool present in a non-conventional machining process. For example in laser

machines, laser beams carry out the task while electrochemical machining requires a physical tool in order to accomplish the

process.

Tool and Work Piece Contact

• Conventional machining process involves the direct contact of tool and work piece, whereas unconventional machining does

not require the direct contact of tool and work piece.

Accuracy

• Conventional machining process has lower accuracy and surface finish while non-conventional machining has higher accuracy

and surface finish.

Waste Material

• Since conventional machining process has tools with a lesser lifespan due to high surface contact and wear,
they are also likely to cause a higher waste of material. With tools with a greater lifespan, non conventional
machining has a lower waste material due to low or no wear.

Machining Process

• Conventional machining process usually involves changing the shape of a work piece using an implement
made of a harder material. Using conventional methods to machine hard metals and alloys means increased
demand of time and energy and therefore increases in costs. In some cases, conventional machining may
not be feasible.

• Conventional machining also costs in terms of tool wear and in loss of quality in the product because of
induced residual stresses during the manufacturing process. With the ever-increasing demand for
manufactured goods made of hard alloys and metals, more interest has gravitated to non-conventional
machining methods.
Energy Source

• Conventional machining can be defined as a process using mechanical

energy. Non-conventional machining utilises other forms of energy.
The three main forms of energy used in non-conventional machining
are thermal, chemical and electrical energy.
Case study on any one
process
AJM, WJM, AWJM, USM, LBM, EDM, ECM