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Abstract
Machining with electrochemical discharges is an unconventional technology able to machine several electrically non-conductive materials
like glass or some ceramics. After almost 40 years of its first mention in literature, this technology remains an academic application and was
never applied in industrial context. The knowledge about machining of non-conducting materials using electrochemical discharge
phenomenon is reviewed up to this date with some particular attention to the electrochemical point of view. Some main limiting factors are
highlighted and possible solutions are discussed.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Spark assisted chemical engraving; Machining non-conductive materials; Electrochemical discharge phenomena
observed but some small (a few milliAmperes) anodic was introduced in [38]. Other possibilities are constant feed
currents. This anodic current dissolves the tool-electrode by [36,39] or stick-slip actuators [6].
electrochemical dissolution. In the case of extremely small A major problem in hole drilling is the accessibility of
sharp AFM tips this effect can result in the total dissolution the electrolyte at the working site as the drill depth increases
of the tool-electrode. [38,40]. When the electrolyte can no longer reach the to be
The effect of electrolyte on machining is complex and machined surface material removal rate decreases, the local
cannot be described uniquely in function of concentration temperature may increase and some thermal cracks will be
and temperature. As will be discussed in Section 4, the formed in the workpiece. A solution to this problem is to
machining process is partially a chemical one and therefore move up and down the tool-electrode during drilling in
the nature of the electrolyte influences strongly the order to allow fresh electrolyte to flush inside the hole
machining behaviour. NaOH electrolyte seems to have [38,40].
most interesting properties compared to other electrolytes By rotating the tool the machining performances can be
(KOH, NaCl, NaNO3, NaF, HCl and H2SO4) [3,24]. Molten improved as well for material removal rate as for obtaining
salt electrolytes (eutectic of NaOH and KOH melting at better machined surface qualities. This was first demon-
170 8C) can drastically improve the smoothness of the strated by Jain et al. [39] by drilling holes in the range of a
machined surface [3]. The surface roughness of the few millimetres in diameter and depth in glass and quartz
machined work sample is influenced by the electrolyte using various tool kinematics with NaOH electrolyte and
and the applied voltage [33]. later confirmed by other research groups [33,40]. The
The voltage is mostly applied as a D.C. voltage. However circularity of the machined holes and the machining
applying high frequency voltage pulses is very interesting as removal rate can be improved by rotating the tool-electrode.
removal rate increases for pulses in the micro-sec range and The effect of tool rotational speed can be divided in two
the machined surface quality is significantly improved [3]. distinct regions. For slow rotation (less than 25 rpm) the
Material removal rate is increased as well by introducing an machining efficiency (amount of machined distance for a
additional inductance in the voltage generator circuit as was
given machining time) increases. For higher rotational
showed by Basak et al. [10,27,34].
speed (higher than 25 rpm) the efficiency decreases and may
Introducing artificially some bubbles into the process
even become less efficient than for a non-rotational
during machining was investigated by Jain et al. [23]. They
tool. Jain et al. [39] attribute this effect to a destabilisation
found that the material removal rate decreases slightly as
of the sparking activity with increasing rotation speed. A
well as the over-cut. This method could maybe be used to
similar conclusion was found when using an exocentric
increase machining precision.
rotational motion for the tool. Optimal performances can be
achieved by using an eccentricity similar to the used tool
2.2. Drilling holes
radius [39].
Not only glass and quartz may be drilled. As already
Hole drilling was the first application of SACE [2]. The
range of diameter is typically from about 100 mm to a few showed Cook et al. [3] several non-conducting material can
millimetres. Mostly some cylindrical tools are used made in be machined by this technology (granite, refractory fire-
various electrical conducting materials. In principle any brick, aluminium oxide, plexiglas and others). In particular
conducting material is suitable. However, materials with ceramic material can be drilled (Al2O3, Si3N4, MgO, Y2O3)
high resistance to electrochemical corrosion are preferred [28,29,37,36] achieving holes of typically 1 mm diameter
like stainless steel, tungsten or nickel. The strong correlation using gravity-feed or constant feed with several electrolytes
between the tool shape and the machined hole was (NaF, NaNO3, NaCl and NaOH) and applying relatively
demonstrated by Langen et al. [6] who showed that it is high voltages (around 80 V compared to typically 30 V for
possible to achieve various shapes (square, triangular and glass and quartz). The material removal rate (MRR) is,
cylindrical shapes) for holes by using wire electro discharge however, about 10 times smaller than for glass and quartz
grinding (WEDG) technology to manufacture the various (about 0.10.4 mg/min) and the surface quality is less good
tool-electrodes [35]. Another possibility to manufacture the than for glass [28].
tools is electrochemical etching [36]. Recently the In order to get better control over the distance between
possibility to use extremely sharp tips made by electro- the workpiece and the tool, Jain et al. [30] proposed to use
chemical etching implemented on an AFM set-up was abrasive cutting tools. By comparing material removal rate
explored [32]. for glass and alumina they could show that using this kind
The feeding mechanism of the tool influences the of tools improves the machining efficiency. The authors
machining performances too. Most popular actuation explain this effect by noting that on one side the machining
principle for the tool (or workpiece) is gravity feed takes advantage of thermal erosion and abrasive machining
[2,3,5,28,33,37] which means that the tool and the machined and on the other side the gap between the workpiece and
substrate are always in contact. A similar possibility the tool is always a few micrometers which allows
(keeping the force between tool and workpiece constant) sparking.
1098 R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108
2.3. 3D micro-structuring minute [23] or a few centimetres per minute [44] depending
on the used set-up. The wire may be guided horizontally
By moving the tool over the work sample some 2D and even [23] or vertically [24,44,46].
3D structures can be achieved. First 3D micro-structuring As for hole drilling and 3D structuring several materials
experiments of glass, using different types of actuators, are can be machined with TW-ECDM: glass, quartz, alumina
reported by Langen et al. [6]. Besides drilling they presented [44,46], PZT ceramics [24] and various composites (glass-
some linear pattern machining with a tool-speed of 0.5 mm/s. and Kevlar-epoxy) [23]. The preferred electrolyte is in
Some other reports came from Wuthrich et al. [38,41,42] general NaOH.
where they presented some linear structure with typical The applied voltage may be D.C. voltage [23,24] or
dimensions of 100 mm wide and a few millimetres long. The pulsed one [44,46]. Compared to hole drilling or 3D
possibility to measure the machined structure and then to structuring the voltage is in general higher which is due to
machine it again in order to correct partially the obtained shape the different geometry of the wire (larger surface) compared
was demonstrated and discussed [38]. Some very complex 3D to a cylindrical tool.
structures can be obtained as demonstrated Lee et al. [40] by Workpiece feeding is done by gravity [23], by constant
machining some hour glass and even threaded interconnects speed [24] (at very slow speed in order to be slower than the
which allows to attach reversibly some plastic tubing able to mean machining speed) or, as newly introduced, by gap
withstand pressures up to 100 kPa without leakage. control [46]. In this last configuration, the gap is controlled
As for hole drilling, the rotation of the machining tool optically by a sensor. The thickness of the workpiece can be
improves the machined surface quality and geometrical in the range of 1 mm1 cm (for glass) [46].
shape [16] (see Fig. 2). The linear speed of the tool above The stabilization of the temperature during machining by
the surface should be chosen as high as possible in order to appropriate flushing of the electrolyte is possible [45,46].
avoid thermal cracking of the sample. However, high
machining speed results in decrease of the material removal 2.5. Combining with other technologies
rate [31,43]. and practical realisations
2.4. Travelling wire electrochemical discharge machining It is possible to combine SACE with other micro-
TW-ECDM machining technologies. Esashi et al. [49] used SACE in
combination with clean room technologies for micro-
An extension to wire machining, called travelling wire fabricating an absolute pressure sensor. Guerin et al. used
electrochemical discharge machining (TW-ECDM), was SACE together with excimer laser micro-machining and
proposed by Tsuchiya et al. [44] and studied further on by clean room technologies to manufacture a miniature one-
Jain et al. [23,24,45] and Peng et al. [46]. TW-ECDM is shot valve [50]. Daridon et al. [51] drilled holes of a few
particularly interesting for slicing glass fibber composites 100 mm diameter with SACE in combination with HF
[7,23,47,48], but may be used as well for 2D contours etching for micro-analytical applications.
cutting [44]. In this configuration a wire is used as tool in An other interesting combination, which allows to obtain
analogue way as in wire discharge machining (WEDM). various shapes for the tool-electrodes, is to manufacture
Typical used wires are 0.9 mm cooper wire [23,46], them by WEDG [35] as it is first proposed by Langen et al.
0.25 mm stainless steal wire [46], or 0.5 and 0.2 mm brass [8,41,5255] and further developed by Yang et al. [33].
wire [24,44]. The wire speed is a compromise between high If moreover the tool fabrication facility is located on the
speed in order to allow the cooling of the wire (avoiding same machine doing the SACE process, alignment problem
overheating and breaking) and low speed for economical can be avoided [53]. An other possibility to machine the tool
reasons [23]. Typical speeds are a few millimetres per on the same machine doing the SACE processing is
Fig. 2. Comparison between a groove machined (a) without and (b) with tool rotation. The sharpness of the edges is improved.
R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108 1099
Fig. 3. A typical table top machine for SACE machining. A three axe manipulator moves the tool-electrode at the desired place for machining. In this case a tool
holder with additional functionalities, like the possibility to machine at constant force or to use the tool as a profilometer, is mounted.
proposed by Lim et al. [36] who manufacture the tool- the electrolysis without any interference from outside.
electrodes by electrochemical etching as used for STM or This breakdown is due to the formation of a gas film around
AFM applications. the electrode of smaller surface (the tool-electrode in the
The developed desktop machinery combining SACE case of SACE). Even if SACE is based on ECD it is only
and other technologies may have some interesting very recently that this machining process was investigated
applications in micro-factories [53]. A typical table top in the light of electrochemistry and in particular in light of
machine as used in our laboratory is shown in Fig. 3 [56]. ECD [15,16,42].
It consists mainly on a three axe manipulator. In the
example shown in the figure, a tool holder which can be
used as profilometer in the same time is mounted (analogue 3.1. Phenomenology
to the one presented in [38]).
The electrochemical discharge phenomenon is clearly
demonstrated by the following simple experience inspired
from the historically first report from Foucault and Fizeau
3. The SACE fundaments
[57,58] (see Fig. 4). Two electrodes are dipped inside an
SACE makes use of electrochemical discharge (ECD) aqueous electrolyte. The cathode is chosen with a much
phenomena. These effects are known (often under other smaller surface (about 1 mm2) than the anode (about 100
names like electrode effects, anode or cathode effects) since times). When the applied D.C. voltage is low (lower than a
the work of Fizeau and Foucault [57,58] in 1844. Later, in critical value called critical voltage, which is typically
1851, Bunsen [59] showed that ECD does not only happen between 20 and 30 V) electrolysis happens. Hydrogen gas
in aqueous electrolytes but in molten salt as well. Today bubbles are formed at the tool-electrode (cathode) and
they are intensively studied in the context of industrial oxygen bubbles at the counter electrode (anode). When the
aluminum production (where it is known under the keyword voltage is increased, the current density increases too and
anode effect) [60,61] and for contact glow discharge more and more bubbles grow forming a bubble layer around
electrolysis (CGDE) which is mainly used for material the electrodes. The density (number per electrode area) of
deposition (see [13] for a review on this subject). ECD bubbles and their mean radius increase [16]. When the
appears when electrode effects happen in the system. voltage is increased above the critical voltage, bubbles
Electrode effects are defined according to Vogt [60] as coalesce into a gas film around the tool-electrode. Light
the phenomenon of an immediate breakdown of emission is observed in the film where electrical discharges
1100 R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108
Fig. 4. Illustration of the electrochemical discharge phenomena. Two electrodes are dipped into an electrolyte. The voltage is progressively increased from 0 to
40 V. At around 25 V the cathode effect starts and at around 30 V the discharges are clearly visible. (a) 0 V (b) 7.5 V (c) 15 V (d) 30 V.
happen between the tool-electrode and the surrounding and the contact angle of the adhering bubbles. His
electrolyte [2,3,11,13,16,37,42,6265]. model shows that the critical current density depends
Similar behaviour can be obtained by inverting the on several parameters. The mains are:
polarity of the electrodes and by changing the electrolytes a. wettability of the electrolyte
[66]. b. electrode geometry (area and typical length)
The main open question is the mechanism of the c. thermodynamic state (temperature and pressure)
transition between the traditional electrolysis regime and d. bubble geometry
the electrochemical discharge regime. Among the many e. bubble removal rate
different explanations proposed in literature, there seems (v) Bubble coalescence as a percolation problem. A
not yet to be a generally admitted explanation. The completely new approach was introduced by
main mechanisms proposed can be schematised as follows Wuthrich [16,6264]. He proposes to consider the
[16,60,67]: problem of bubble growth as a stochastic process and
predicts the onset of the effect using percolation
(i) Change in wettability of the electrode [68]. The theory. The main idea is that bubbles can detach from
electrode effects are interpreted as the consequence of the electrode surface as long as they are small. If a
insufficient wetting of the electrode. The ability of the bubble formed by coalescence become as large as to
bubbles to adhere to the electrode surface is increased be able to go round the electrode, it will no longer
and they grow larger. The bubbles can coalesce and detach but grip even more to the electrode surface,
form a continuous gas film. because capillarity forces tend to minimize the surface
(ii) Hydrodynamic instabilities (i.e. Helmholtz instability) of interfaces. This model is able to predict the
are responsible for the onset of anode effect [69]. complete IU characteristics as well as the critical
(iii) Local Joule heating [13,34,7073]. The gas film is point (critical voltage, current density and resistance).
formed by local evaporation of the electrolyte by
Joule heating (due to the increase of local current The process initiating the electrochemical discharges is
density because the bubbles electrochemically formed complex. It has to be mentioned that these different
are shadowing the electrode). proposed mechanisms are not necessary exclusive but may
(iv) Combination of wettablity and hydrodynamic effects. contribute more or less together to this transition.
Vogt [60,67] proposes that anode effect occurs
whenever the distance between neighbouring bubbles
contacting the electrode has been diminished to such 3.2. The mean currentvoltage characteristics
an extent that the bubbles are enable to coalesce. He
calculates an expression for the critical current density The electrochemical discharge process can be described
in function of the electrolyte flow around the electrode quantitatively by the mean stationary currentvoltage
R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108 1101
Fig. 6. Dependence of the critical voltage of the a) electrolyte weight concentration and (b) the tool diameter. Measurements done for NaOH electrolyte.
1102 R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108
Fig. 7. Normalized mean stationary currentvoltage characteristics for 3.4.2. Physical parameters
NaOH electrolyte. The composition of the gas film is studied by spectro-
graphic analysis. The main results for aqueous electrolytes
Fig. 7 shows the JU characteristics where experimental are summarized as follows [37,71,76]:
measurements were done with various tools and different
NaOH weight concentrations. It is seen that for voltages below 1. Always can be observed the spectral ray Ha and Hb from
the critical one, almost all measurements follows a same the hydrogen. The emission rays from the metal of the
universal characteristics. For voltages higher than the critical electrode (like Pt, Rh, Al, Cu, Au, Fe, Zn, Ag, Ni, W) can
one this behaviour seems still to be fulfilled even with less be observed for high enough voltages too.
clarity. 2. The emission band of OH can be observed.
The normalized characteristics are not only interesting 3. Several other emission rays are observed depending on
from a theoretical point of view, but also from a practical the used electrolyte. For example in the case of a NaOH
one. The measurement of the critical voltage together with solution the emission ray of 4668 A of the sodium is
the critical current density is enough to know the complete observed.
characteristics of the system without accurate knowledge of
the electrolyte properties, which are in general difficult to The observation of these various spectral lines does not
determine (especially the electrolyte conductivity which only show the chemical composition of the gas film but
depends highly of the electrolyte temperature and purity: proves that all these elements (or even molecules) are
two parameters that change during machining). ionised. The temperature of the discharges are in the range
of 80020,000 K according several different measurements
[13,74,77].
3.4. The gas film
3.4.3. Dynamical parameters
The gas film built around the tool electrode plays a key Dynamical parameters of the gas film are from particular
role in SACE machining. Several parameters characterise it: interest for SACE machining. A first important value is the
geometrical, physical and dynamical. Geometrical par- mean time needed to build up the gas film. Fig. 8 shows a
ameters are its size (fraction of the tool surface covered by typical answer to a voltage step input. The gas film is
the case film) and thickness. Physical parameters are its completely built up after a mean time t, which is typically
temperature and composition and dynamical parameters are around 20 ms [15,16,71] for cylindrical tools. After this
values like the gas film mean live time. All these parameters time, the first electrical discharges appear. The mean life
influences the machining process. time of the gas film is much less studied and today only
qualitative reports are available [78]. It seems that the
3.4.1. Geometrical parameters electrolyte mean temperature influences the mean life time
Some information on the size and thickness of the gas [70]. Other influences are not reported.
film can be obtained by visual observations with high speed Another interesting aspect related to the dynamics of the
cameras and traditional photography in aqueous electrolytes gas film are the produced hydro dynamical fluxes
[11,15,33,42,70,71,74,75] and molten salt electrolytes (see Fig. 4d). Until now no systematic studies are reported.
(see [69] for a more complete list of references). The Only some visual observations are qualitatively discussed
observation is quiet difficult as on one side the phenomenon [15,79]. These fluxes are relatively stable and are described
is a small turbulent scene and on the other side the gas film as a strong jet oriented in the tool-electrode direction.
R. Wuthrich, V. Fascio / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 45 (2005) 10951108 1103
electrode surface is equal to the amount of gas released from region. In this situation several processes may contribute to
the electrode [83,84]: the machining mechanism [5,23]:
smax
X
k1 1 K p Z k2 sns (7) (i) melting and vaporisation due to electrochemical
sZ0 discharges
(ii) high temperature dissolution
where p is the density of active bubble nucleation sites. The
(iii) differential expansion of constituents and weathering
constant k1 is given by the amount of produced gas
(iv) random thermal stresses and micro-cracking and
electrochemically (by the ButtlerVolmer equation) and k2
spalling
is related to the mean high of a bubble (therefore related to
(v) mechanical shock due to expanding gases and
the wettability of the electrode). The right side of Eq. (7)
electrolyte movement
evaluates the total volume of gas released from the
electrode. It runs over all bubble from size sZ0 up to the Besides all these potential mechanism until today only
maximal size smax at which the bubble can still leave thermal effects and chemical etching were investigated.
the electrode surface (this value is therefore function of
wettability, ability of bubbles to coalesce and capillarity
forces). In the case where every bubble, expect the gas film, 4.1. The arc region
can leave the electrode surface, the current is given by:
X Machining is possible above the critical voltage.
I Z k2 sns Z k2 p K Pp (8) The current behaves totally different compared to the
s
voltages below the critical value. In mean the current is very
with P(p) the size of the gas film (the probability that an small (only a few milliAmpere). But the instant current
active nucleation site belongs to the gas film, which is I(t) signal is a succession of very short current pulses
identical to the infinite cluster in percolation theory). If the (typically a few 100 ms) which can be as high as a few
so called phase equation pZp(U), giving the density of Amperes [11,15,16,42,46,71,74,88] (see Fig. 9). The signal
active nucleation sites in function of the applied voltage, is has no measurable frequency and the number of pulses per
known, relation (8) can be used to predict the complete IU fixed time interval follows a Poisson process [11,16]. Each
characteristics of the process. In principle this relation pulse is a short electrical discharge [16,88]. The current
results from (7) if the constants k1 and k2 can be expressed signal is well modelled by a shot noise signal, from which it
explicitly in function of the control parameters. However, follows that the mean current I is given by [16]:
until today there is no such relation reported. Only some
phenomenological models where proposed [16,6264,84]. Sa
I Z ld (9)
The understanding of the microscopic processes respon- t
sible of activation of bubble nucleation sites would be of with S the tool-electrode surface, ld the probability of
great practical help. If there is a way to reduce the mean discharge (number of discharges per time), a the mean
distance between these sites it would become possible to amplitude of a discharge and t the mean time of a discharge.
reduce the size of the gas film, which is typically of the size of It is interesting to note that the mean current gives
this mean distance if the gas bubbles are nearly spherical. The essentially the behaviour of the discharge probability. This
interest of reduction of the gas film size is clear. This would quantity is important to investigate the nature of the
increase the local electrical field around the tool electrode electrical discharges as the physic of an electrical discharge
and therefore increase the discharge activity and material is essentially contained in the electron yield (or discharge
removal rate. This will probably as well give the possibility to probability). Experimental measurements of ld [11,16]
machine smaller structures. And finally, even if this small gas shows that this value follows a field emission law which
film will change dynamically its size, this will not affect too is typical for non-self sustained thermo emitted arc
much the machining. For example a gas film of a thickness of discharges. Other experimental evidences confirm this
about 1 mm, can change its size only in this range and hypothesis: Guilpin [71] showed that the cathode spot has
therefore influence machining only in the micrometer range.
Therefore, more reproducible machining can be expected.
First steps in the attempt to understand how to reduce the gas
film thickness were presented recently in [8587].
all characteristics (temperature, size and mean the electrolyte and only 26% is used for heating up the
current density) of typical arc discharges and several workpiece.
works [15,26,70,71] showed that the temperature of the Another experimental evidence for thermal mechanism
tool-electrode as at least 100 8C, a necessary condition for in machining are the various observations of thermal cracks
arc discharges that are thermo initiated. Finally it has to be insides the machined materials [23,24,28,38,39,90] which
noted that arcs, contrary to Townsed discharges, happen at are seen mainly at high voltage machining.
low voltages (typically from 10 V up). In summary the thermal model for SACE machining is
straight forward. Each discharge supplies energy to the
workpiece, which is able to melt or even evaporate it. As the
4.2. Thermal machining
number of discharges per time follows a field emission law,
the material removal rate follows a similar law in function
The most admitted hypothesis about the machining
of the applied voltage between the electrodes. This is
mechanism is that the machining is a thermal one. It is
confirmed experimentally where several measurements
assumed that the workpiece surface is intensively heated
shows that the material removal rate increases nearly
leading to melting and maybe even vaporisation of the work
exponentially with the applied voltage [3,7,23,37].
material. Several analytical [27] and FEM [11,15,89]
calculations support this mechanism. The difficulty is to
estimate correctly the amount of energy per discharge. 4.3. Chemical machining
Basak et al. [27] proposed, based on some analogies with
electro discharge machining (EDM) and telecommunication Several observations indicate that not only thermal
switches, to consider that each discharge carries in mean an machining has some importance but some chemical etching
energy of 2000 J/cm2 and has a duration of 0.1 ms. Jain et al. too [14,15,24,33,37]. Chemical etching effects could for
[89] estimated the mean heat q* released by the discharges example explain why the quality of machined surface may
by following relation: depend strongly on the used electrolyte [3,33] or why the
NaOH electrolyte leads to higher machining removal rate of
q Z UI K RI 2 (10) glass than other ones [33]. It is well known that NaOH
etches glass by complexation of silicate [5,11,14,15,33,40]:
with U the applied voltage, I the mean current and R the
resistance of the electrolyte. In words: the mean energy per
spark is the mean energy given to the system minus the 2NaOH C SiO2 / Na2 SiO3 s C H2 O (11)
energy loosed by Joule heating. Fascio [11,15] improved
this idea by estimating the mean energy and mean duration This chemical reaction is strongly enhanced by increas-
of a spark from statistical analysis of the current signal in the ing the temperature [15,33]. Similar results are reported for
arc region. All the proposed models reproduce fairly well ceramic materials [37].
the experimental observations of the material removal rate, The chemical contribution to machining is a combination
except for the lowest voltages (below 30 V). In this case, the of etching and leaching phenomena. Yang et al. defined the
machining rate is much smaller. This suggests that the process as a high temperature etching [33] and conducted
machining is mainly chemical. several experiments in order to elucidate the chemical
Nevertheless several experimental evidences confirm the etching effects in SACE. By comparing visually the surface
thermal mechanism in machining. It is known that the tool- quality obtained at high temperature etching of glass with
electrode may reach temperatures up to 500 8C [26,34,70]. NaOH, traditional electro discharge machining of Indium
Allesu et al. [5] showed by a simple experiment that the heat Tin Oxide (ITO, an electrically conduction glass) and SACE
produced during electrochemical discharge phenomenon is processing of glass they concluded that SACE is mostly like
able to melt glass. Therefore, they used an electrolysis cell to be a combination of thermal melting and chemical
separated into two compartments by a glass wall. In this etching.
glass wall is located a small hole of 1.5 mm diameter. When EDX surfaces analysis of the machined structures for
a voltage of 60 V is applied to the cell, the hole inside the sodalime glass confirmed that [Na C] concentration
glass wall rapidly files with a gas bubble formed because of decreases while [HC] concentration increases in the
local Joule heating of the electrolyte. Electrical discharges machining area [14] and suggests that leaching occurs
are observed inside the gas and the diameter of the hole during the SACE process.
increases from 1.5 to 2.5 mm within a few minutes. Beyond these observations, it is still difficult to quantify
Kulkarni et al. [9] showed by various measurements that the effect of chemistry on machining. Previous investi-
after each current peak, i.e. each discharge, the temperature gations were achieved by Fascio [15], who showed that the
of the workpiece increases above the melting temperature maximal chemical contribution would be in the order
and sometime even above the vaporisation temperature of of several microns. This result highlights the effect of
the machined material. They estimated that about 7796% chemistry which could be seen as a local modification of
of the energy supplied to the process is used to heat the roughness.
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