Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572
DOI 10.1007/s00170-013-4943-8
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Improving machining accuracy of electrochemical machining
blade by optimization of cathode feeding directions
N. S. Qu & Z. Y. Xu
Received: 13 September 2012 / Accepted: 21 March 2013 / Published online: 7 April 2013
# Springer-Verlag London 2013
Abstract Electrochemical machining (ECM) is well-
established in certain areas, such as the aerospace, defence,
and medical industries for machining complex parts. ECM
is an effective way to produce compression blades.
However, with advances in the development of aero en-
gines, the accuracy of blades becomes higher and their
shapes have also become more complex. Thus, considerable
attention has been devoted to improving the machining
accuracy of blades by ECM. In blades machined by ECM,
the angle between the cathode feeding directions and the
normal of the anode profile greatly affects the accuracy of
the ECM process, and it is determined by the angle combi-
nation of the anode installation and the cathodes feeding
direction. It is very important to determine the best angle
combinations that could minimise the angle between the
cathode feeding directions and the normal of the anode
profile. The present paper focuses on the optimization meth-
od of the angle combinations of the cathode feeding di-
rections and anode installation. A theoretical model
describing the optimization method of the cathode feeding
directions and position of the anode was developed, and the
experimental investigations were conducted in order to eval-
uate the rationality of the optimization method. The results
show that with the optimized combination of the cathode
feeding directions and position of the anode, the maximum
angle between the cathodes feeding directions and the nor-
mal of the anode profile is minimised and the inter-electrode
gap between the cathode and anode is more uniform. Thus,
N. S. Qu (*) : Z. Y. Xu
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016,
People’s Republic of China
e-mail: nsqu@nuaa.edu.cn
N. S. Qu
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Accuracy and Micro-Manufacturing
Technology, Nanjing 210016, China
the machining accuracy could be clearly improved and the
maximum errors of the convex part and concave part were
only 0.054 and 0.047 mm, respectively.
Keywords ECM . Blade . Optimization method . Cathode
feeding direction . Machining accuracy
1 Introduction
Electrochemical machining (ECM) is one of the advanced
machining technologies that has been developed and applied
in highly specialised fields, such as the aerospace, aeronau-
tics, defence, and medical industries. ECM is an economical
and effective method for machining heat-resistant, high-
strength materials into complex shapes. In recent years,
ECM has been used in other industries, such as the automo-
bile and turbo-machinery industries, because of the follow-
ing advantages: no tool wear, the ability to machine
difficult-to-cut metals, and parts with complex geometries
with relatively high accuracy [1–4]. To improve the accura-
cy of ECM, which is the most important factor to be con-
sidered, many studies have been carried out, including
studies on the effectiveness of forming smaller gaps be-
tween the cathode and anode [5–7], the application of dual
pole electrodes [8], the use of orbital electrode movement
[9], ultrasonically assisted electrochemical machining [10],
a new method for monitoring the inter-electrode gap [11],
the influence of electrochemical micro-drilling by short
pulsed voltage [12], and the modelling of the electrochem-
ical machining process by the boundary element method
[13]. The optimization of process parameters involved in
machining shaped surfaces and difficult-to-machine mate-
rials has been studied [14–19]. Various techniques, includ-
ing the use of a low-concentration electrolyte [20] and
acidified sodium chloride electrolyte [21], two-dimensional
two-phase flow field for tool design [22, 23], a CAE–ECM
1566
system [24, 25], ECM of the spiral internal turbulator [26],
and the laser-assisted jet ECM [27], have also been
implemented.
Blades are very important parts of gas turbines. Due to
severe working conditions, blades are usually made of tita-
nium alloys or Ni-based super alloys in very complex
shapes. Therefore, it is difficult to machine the required
blades. ECM is an effective and economical way to machine
compression blades composed of Ni-based super alloys and
titanium alloys. However, with advances in the development
of aero engines, the accuracy of compression blades has
increased and their shapes have also become more complex.
Thus, much attention has been paid to improving the ma-
chining accuracy of blades by ECM. Bogoveev et al. devel-
oped a mathematical model for simulating the process of
blade surface formation in the unsteady mode [28].
Paczkowski et al. developed an ECM model that predicts
the evolution of a machined surface’s shape and the distri-
bution of physical–chemical parameters inside the inter-
electrode gap [29]. Fujisawa et al. developed a multiphysics
model to predict the ECM process and satisfactorily predict-
ed the final shape of a blade [30]. Tsuboi et al. performed
simulations of the machining of a 3-D compressor blade, in
which metal dissolution, electrolyte flow, void fraction dis-
tribution of hydrogen bubbles generated from the tool cath-
ode, thermal conductivity, electric potential, and electric
conductivity were taken into account [31]. Xu et al.
presented an active distributary electrolyte flow mode,
which could improve the surface roughness and machining
accuracy of blade [32]. Zhu et al. using W-shaped electro-
lyte flow mode to machine the blisk [33].
In blades machined by ECM, the angles between the
cathode feeding direction and the normal of the anode
profile greatly affects the accuracy of the ECM process. If
the angles are small, the inter-electrode gaps between every
point of the anode profile and cathode are uniform and near
the equilibrium gap, thus, the machining accuracy of a blade
will be improved. The angles between the cathode feeding
direction and the normal of anode profile are determined by
the blade position and cathode feeding directions. There are
innumerable angle combinations between the anode position
and cathode feeding directions. It is very important to de-
termine the best angle combinations that can minimise the
angle between the cathode feeding direction and the normal
of the anode profile. A reasonable optimization criterion that
can determine the best feeding directional angle of every
cathode and anode installation angle has never been
reported. The present study focused on improving the ma-
chining accuracy of blades by optimising both the cathode
feeding direction and anode position. A theoretical model
and reasonable criterion for optimising the cathode feeding
directions and anode position were developed, and experi-
ments were carried out to evaluate the optimisation method.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572
2 Optimization method
2.1 Modelling the feeding method
Figure 1 shows a schematic of the gap between the cathode
and workpiece in ECM. Vf is the feeding velocity of the
cathode. The normal of point A on the anode surface is
parallel to the cathode feeding direction. Thus, the inter-
electrode gap at point A, Δb, is the equilibrium inter-
electrode gap of the ECM instrument, and the machining
accuracy of anode at this point is the best. At point B on the
anode surface, the angle between the cathode feeding direc-
tion and anode surface normal is θ, thus, the inter-electrode
gap at point B, Δn, is equal to Δb/cosθ. There are many
sampling points on the anode surface, and every point has
its own θ. If the differences between the various angles θ are
great, the differences between the inter-electrode gaps will
also be great and the machining accuracy will be low. If the
values of θ are large, small fluctuations in the equilibrium
inter-electrode gap (Δb) will induce great changes in the
gaps at other points according to the aforementioned formu-
la, Δn =Δb/cosθ. If θ=90°, the change in the gap will be
infinite. Therefore, determining the best cathode feeding
direction that makes θ sufficiently small is significant in
enhancing the machining accuracy of ECM blades. The
theory mentioned above is for 2D machining and it is also
suitable for 3D machining.
The traditional feeding method used in machining blades
by ECM involves a fixed anode and two moving cathodes
lying parallel to the platform of the blade or at a stationary
feeding angle that cannot be adjusted. As shown in Fig. 2,
the cathode feeding direction is fixed. In general, the convex
and concave profiles of blades have different optimal cath-
ode feeding directions, and different blades also require
different feeding directions. However, the cathode feeding
directions used in traditional feeding methods are fixed and
cannot meet the aforementioned requirements. If the cath-
ode feeding direction can be adjusted for different blades or
the convex and concave profiles of blades, the machining
accuracy could be enhanced.
A three-electrode feeding method was developed in our
previous report [32]. There are three axes on the same
vf
- Cathode
Electrolyte
θ Δn
Gap Δb
B
Anode /
A + Workpiece
Fig. 1 Schematic of gap between cathode and anode
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572 1567

Anode fixed
0
The relative velocity V2 and feeding angle (α2) of the
Anode
concave-part cathode to the anode can be calculated as
Cathode follows:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Feeding direction Feeding direction 0
V2 ¼ V02 þ V22 ð3Þ

Fig. 2 Schematic of traditional feeding method
horizontal plane on the machining tool, including one anode
axis where the blade workpiece is installed and two cathode
axes where the tool electrodes used to machine the concave
and convex parts of a blade are installed. All of these axes
could be used for feeding during the ECM process; with a
variable feeding velocity for every axis, the relative feeding
direction of the cathode to the anode can also be adjusted.
The two cathodes are aligned coaxially, and the anode axis
is mounted vertically to the cathodes. A schematic diagram
of the three-electrode feeding method and the electrode
feeding directions is shown in Fig. 3: the anode installation
angle is β. The anode feeding velocity is V0, and the veloc-
ities of the cathode electrodes to the convex and concave

0
parts are V1 and V2, respectively. The relative velocity V1
and feeding angle (α1) of the convex-part cathode to the
anode can be calculated as follows:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0 verse plane. The angle θ, as shown in Fig. 4, is determined
V1 ¼ V02 þ V12 ð1Þ
 
V0
a1 ¼ arctan 
V1
 
V0
a2 ¼ arctan  ð4Þ
V2
Although the cathodes move in only one direction, the
feeding direction depends on the motion of both the cathode
and anode, which can be adjusted automatically by chang-
ing their velocities over a large range (0.05–50 mm/min)
when the blade profile changes. The feeding direction of the
convex and concave parts can be set by adjusting the rela-
tive velocities of the three electrodes individually, which
facilitates providing the convex and concave parts a unique
feeding direction to closely meet engineering requirements.
The feeding method is flexible enough to adapt to different
types of blades.
As mentioned above, the angle (θ) between the cathode
feeding direction and the normal of the anode profile greatly
affects the accuracy of the ECM process. For small angles
(θ), the accuracy is high because the inter-electrode gap is
closer to the equilibrium inter-electrode gap of the trans-
by the angle of the anode installation (β) and cathode
feeding direction (α).
As shown in Fig. 4, the equation for the anode profile in
the rectangular coordinates is
ð2Þ
f ðx; y; zÞ ¼ 0 ð5Þ

When the anode installation is moved around Z-axis to β,

Feeding direction the equation for the anode profile in the new rectangular
Platform Anode
coordinates is

Concave part
cathode gðx; y; z; b Þ ¼ 0 ð6Þ

β
Y 0
x
Normal of anode profile
’
Q
V1
α1 X P
V1 α2 θ
’ Convex part
V2
V0 cathode
Z V2
T
Feeding direction of Feeding direction of
velocity composition velocity composition z Feeding direction

Fig. 3 Schematic of three-electrode feeding method Fig. 4 Schematic of angles

1568 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572

 
The normal direction of point P on the anode profile is set Aaki bi . Thus, αk0 and βk0 are the best feeding direc-
!  @gðx;y;z;bÞ @gðx;y;z;bÞ @gðx;y;z;bÞ tional angle and blade installation angle, respectively.
PQ ¼ @x ; @y ; @z ð7Þ In the first step, using formula (10), with every combina-
! tion of β and α1 (α2), the maximum θ of the 1,600 sampling
The feeding direction of the convex-part cathode is TP , points on the blade profile could be determined. Thus, {Aαβ}
which is parallel to plane XZ, and the angle between the is the set of maximum θ of all combinations of β and α1 (α2).
!
feeding direction and the X axis is α1. TP can be expressed As mentioned above, the goal of the optimization was to
as follows: determine the combinations of β and α1 (α2) that minimise
the angles θ. Thus, in the second step, using formula (11), the
!
TP ¼ ðcos a1 ; 0; sin a1 Þ ð8Þ smallest value of all maximum θ from {Aαβ}, Bak0 b0 , could be
found and the combinations of αk0 and βk0 corresponding to
The angle (θ) between the cathode feeding direction
Bak0 b0 could also be obtained. Using αk0, the best feed-
and the normal of the anode profile can be derived as
ing velocities of the cathode and anode could be calcu-
follows:
lated, and the best blade installation angle could also be
TP  PQ obtained using βk0.
θ ¼ arccos

ð9Þ
TP  PQ

Equations (7), (8), and (9) show the relationship among 3 Optimum angle combination of feeding direction
angles θ, α1, and β. The model presented shows that the and blade installation
angles of the cathode feeding direction and anode installa-
tion directly affect the angle (θ) between the cathode feeding The number of angle combinations and θmax was 32,942
direction and the normal of the anode profile. (16,471×2). The number of sampling points in each com-
bination was 1,600 (40×40), and the θ of each point was
2.2 Optimization method calculated. Thus, the number of calculations performed was
great. A model of the blade profile is shown in Fig. 5.
As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the range of the blade installation According to the optimization criterion mentioned above,
angle (β) is 0–180° and the range of the feeding direction with the developed program, each combination was
angles (α1,α2) is 0–90°. Therefore, the number of the com-
binations of β and α1or α2 is 16,471 (181 × 91; if the
increment is 1°). The goal was to determine the optimum
combination of β and α1 (α2) of the convex and concave
parts individually that minimises θ. For each profile of the
convex and concave parts, 1,600 (40×40) sampling points
were obtained. The number of sampling points depends on
the area size of the anode profile. An overabundance of
sampling points would reduce the calculation efficiency,
while too few would reduce the accuracy of the calculation.
The angle (θ) of every sampling point of each combination
can be calculated as {θ1,…,θ1600}i, (i=1, …16,471).
(a) Convex part of blade profile
The goal of the optimization was to determine the com-
binations of β and α1 (α2) that minimise the angles θ. The
following optimization criterion was adopted to obtain the
optimum combinations of β and α1 (α2):

Aaki bi ¼ max fθ1 ;    ; θ1600 gi ; k ¼ 1; 2; i

¼ 1; 2; . . . ; 16471 ð10Þ

 
Bak0 b0 ¼ min Aaki bi ; k ¼ 1; 2; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; 16471 ð11Þ (b) Concave part of blade profile
where Aaki bi is the maximum θ (θmax) value of each combi- Fig. 5 Model of blade profile; a convex part of blade profile, b
nation of β, and α1 (α2). Bak0 b0 is the minimum value of the concave part of blade profile
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572 1569

calculated and optimized. Partial data regarding the angle Table 2 Partial data of
concave part α2 β (concave part) θmax
combinations, θ sets, are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
The angles between the feeding direction and the normal 80° 105° 86.8°
of the profile of all sampling points, θ sets, increase with the 75° 100° 78.8°
feeding direction angles, α1 (α2). θmax is near 90° when the 70° 100° 76.3°
angles α1 (α2) are greater than 80°, and the maximum inter- 64° 100° 75.2°
electrode gap increases abruptly because Δn =Δb/cosθ. The 58° 100° 68.5°
maximum inter-electrode gap of the convex part is 50° 95° 61.6°
Δn ¼ Δb =cos θ ¼ Δb =cos 88:7 ¼ 44:1Δb ð12Þ 43° 95° 52.8°
38° 95° 48.3°
The maximum inter-electrode gap of the concave part is 35° 95° 45.9°
33° 95° 46.1°
Δn ¼ Δb =cos θ ¼ Δb =cos 86:8 ¼ 17:9Δb ð13Þ
30° 95° 46.5°
Therefore, the gaps of all of the sampling points on the 25° 95° 45.9°
blade profile will become extremely non-uniform and the 21° 95° 44.7°
machining accuracy of the anode will decrease appreciably. 15° 95° 46.1°
Regarding the convex part of blade, the minimum of all θmax
is 49.8° when the angles (α1,β) are equal to (25°, 85°).
Regarding the concave part of the blade, the minimum of angle combination was determined by using the developed
all θmax is 44.7° when the angles (α2,β) are equal to (21°, program. The results are shown in Table 3.
95°). Thus, the maximum inter-electrode gap of the convex
part is
Δn ¼ Δb =cos θ ¼ Δb =cos 49:8 ¼ 1:55Δb ð14Þ 4 Experimental apparatus and method

The maximum inter-electrode gap of the concave part is The developed experimental apparatus set-up is com-
posed of four parts: the machining tool, a power supply,
Δn ¼ Δb =cos θ ¼ Δb =cos 44:7 ¼ 1:41Δb ð15Þ
an electrolyte circling system, and a control system.
Under these conditions, the gaps of all of the sampling Figure 6 presents a schematic view of the various sys-
points on the blade profile will become more uniform than tem components of the blade ECM set-up. The power
they would otherwise be at a large angle θ, and the machin- supply unit can provide a voltage of 0–20 V. The
ing accuracy will be enhanced significantly. According to electrolyte is pumped from the tank into the inter-
the optimization criterion mentioned above, the optimum electrode gap at a high speed (10–60 m/s). The control
system controls and adjusts the motions of the elec-
trodes and acquires data regarding current and feeding
Table 1 Partial data of position using the technology of virtual instrument.
convex part α1 β (convex part) θmax Blade machining experiments were performed based on
the following set of conditions and parameters to evaluate
80° 75° 88.7°
the three-electrode feeding method:
75° 80° 79.6°
70° 80° 79.3° & Workpiece material: 2Cr13 stainless steel
65° 80° 75.8° & Machining area: each side 5.5 cm2
60° 80° 72.9° & Cathode material: 1Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel
55° 85° 70.2° & Electrolyte: 20 % water solution of NaNO3
50° 85° 69.5° & Voltage U=12 V
45° 85° 62.7° & Electrolyte velocity at the inlet in the machining fixture
40° 85° 56.8° u=22 m/s
35° 85° 52.0°
30° 85° 50.7° Table 3 Optimum angle combination
25° 85° 49.8°
α1 α2 β β θmax θmax (concave
20° 85° 51.2°
(convex part) (concave part) (convex part) part)
15° 85° 50.4°
10° 85° 50.2° 25° 21° 85° 95° 49.8° 44.7°
1570 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572

& Flow rate of both side inlets Q=1,900 L/h

anode
& Inlet pressure P0 =1.0 MPa electrode
& Outlet pressure P1 =0.3 MPa electrolyte
& Temperature of electrolyte T=21 °C inlet
& The current of both sides I=880 A and the current fixture
density i=80 A/cm2
& The equilibrium inter-electrode gap Δb =0.24 mm
Under the condition of the optimized angle combination,
as shown in Table 3, feeding rates of cathodes are
0.5 mm/min (for convex part) and 0.6 mm/min (for concave
part) and the feeding rate of workpiece is 0.23 mm/min. In
cathode
addition, feeding distances of cathodes are 8 mm (for con-
blade
vex part) and 9.6 mm (for concave part), thus, the machining
processes of both sides could be finished simultaneously outlet
and the machining time is about 16 min.
Fig. 7 Schematic of machining fixture
Fixture is where blade machining takes place (Fig. 7). An
anode electrode and two cathode electrodes were installed
on the same horizontal plane and moved into the fixture. using angle combination (d) and better than that achieved
The electrolyte flowed from the inlet, across the inter- using angle combination (a). The accuracy achieved by
electrode gap, and poured out from the outlet. The designed using the optimized angle combination (b) is the best, and
machining fixture is shown in Fig. 8. the maximum errors in the convex and concave parts are
only 0.054 mm and 0.047 mm, respectively. The results
show that angle combination (b) shown in Table 4 is the
5 Results and discussion best one and satisfies the accuracy requirement for the blade
profile. The reason for this finding is that with the optimized
Photographs of machined samples are shown in Fig. 9. feeding angles and blade installation angle, the angles be-
Figure 10 shows the accuracy of the convex and concave tween the feeding direction and the normal of the profile, θ
sets, are so small that the inter-electrode gaps between the
parts of a blade machined with the angle combinations
shown in Table 4. The machining accuracy was measured cathode and anode are uniform. Therefore, the machining
by coordinate measuring machine (TESA Micro-Hite 3D). accuracy is improved.
With the optimized conditions thirty blades were machined
Thirty sampling points were generated by a uniform distri-
bution on the section line shown in Fig. 9. Figure 10 in- and the machining accuracy was measured by coordinate
dicates that the accuracy of the blade profile achieved by measuring machine (TESA Micro-Hite 3D). The maximum
errors of blade profiles were 0.045–0.055 mm. Because the
using angle combination (a) is the worst and the error
reaches 0.17 mm for the convex part. The accuracy achieved measuring uncertainty of the CMM was (3+L/250)μm and
by using angle combination (c) is similar to that achieved the maximum value of L was less than 25 mm, the maximum
uncertainty was only several micrometres which is too small
to be considered in the paper.
Motor
Anode electrode
Machining Machining tool
chamber
Concave part Convex part
cathode cathode
Fixture

DC power supply
Electrolyte
unit

Control system

Fig. 6 Schematic of blade ECM setup Fig. 8 Machining fixture

Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2013) 68:1565–1572 1571

Section line Table 4 Applied angle combinations of the samples

Sample α1 α2 β (convex part) β (concave part)

(a) 55° 55° 75° 105°

(b) 25° 21° 85° 95°
X (c) 10° 10° 80° 100°
(d) 0° 0° 80° 100°
Workpiece Half-finished Finished
blank product product

(a) ECM process from blank to finished product

6 Conclusions

A new optimization method that minimises the maximum

angle between the cathode feeding direction and the normal
of the blade profile of a blade produced by ECM is presented.
Based on the theoretical model developed and experiments
carried out, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Theoretical analysis was performed to develop a new
optimisation method for determining the optimal combi-
(b) Final blade product created by ECM nation of cathode feeding angle and blade installation
Fig. 9 Machined samples of blade created by three-electrode feeding angle.
method; a ECM process from blank to finished product, b final blade 2. The results of the experiments show that with the opti-
product created by ECM mal combination of cathode feeding angle and blade
installation angle, the angles between the cathode feed-
0.2 ing direction and the normal of the anode profile are
(a) reduced and the inter-electrode gaps between the cath-
(b)
(c) ode and anode are more uniform. Thus, the machining
0.15
Accuracy error(mm)

(d) accuracy is improved, and the maximum error is less

than 0.055 mm.
0.1
3. The feeding angle of the convex and concave parts of
the blade could be set by adjusting the relative feeding
0.05 velocities of the three electrodes individually. Thus, this
feeding method is flexible and can be adapted to differ-
0 ent curved surfaces of blades.
1 6 11 16 21 26
Sampling Points
(a) Accuracy error of convex part
Appendix
0.16 (a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Accuracy error(mm)

0.12

V0 Workpiece feeding velocity

0.08
V1 Velocity of cathode electrode used to make convex parts
V2 Velocity of cathode electrode used to make concave parts
α1 Feeding angle between convex-part cathode and the workpiece
0.04
α2 Feeding angle between concave-part cathode and the work-
piece
0
0 V1 Relative velocity of convex-part cathode to the workpiece
1 6 11 16 21 26 0
Sampling Points V2 Relative velocity of concave-part cathode to the workpiece
(b) Accuracy error of convex part θ Angle between the feeding direction and the normal of profile
β Blade installation angle
Fig. 10 Accuracy error of blade profile for four angle combinations; a Δ Inter-electrode gap
accuracy error of convex part, b accuracy error of convex part
1572
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