Journal of Materials Processing Technology 140 (2003) 264–268

A material removal analysis of electrochemical

machining using flat-end cathode
H. Hocheng∗ , Y.H. Sun, S.C. Lin, P.S. Kao
Department of Power, Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, 300 Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract

Electrochemical machining (ECM) has been increasingly recognized for the potential for machining, while the precision of the machined
profile is a concern of its application. A process to erode a hole of hundreds of micrometers on the metal surface is analyzed in the current
paper. A theoretical and computational model is presented to illustrate how the machined profile evolves as the time elapses. The analysis is
based on the fundamental law of electrolysis and the integral of a finite-width tool. The paper also discusses the influence of experimental
variables including time of electrolysis, voltage, molar concentration of electrolyte and electrode gap upon the amount of material removal
and diameter of machined hole. The results of experiment show the material removal increases with increasing electrical voltage, molar
concentration of electrolyte, time of electrolysis and reduced initial gap. The time of electrolysis is the most influential factor on the
produced diameter of hole.
© 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Electrochemical machining; Material removal; Time; Gap; Anode profile

1. Introduction
Electrochemical machining (ECM) is among the well
recognized non-traditional manufacturing processes in in-
dustry. An electrical current passes through an electrolyte
solution between a cathode tool and an anode workpiece.
The workpiece is eroded in accordance with Faraday’s law
of electrolysis. Since the first introduction of ECM in 1929
by Gusseff, its industrial applications have been extended to
electrochemical drilling, electrochemical deburring, electro-
chemical grinding and electrochemical polishing [1]. ECM
was found particularly advantageous for high-strength al-
loys. For example, the semi-conductor industry frequently
requires the machining of components of complex shape
and high-strength alloys hence ECM is a major process
candidate for semiconductor devices and thin metallic films
[2–4]. ECM processes were also adopted in the aerospace
and electronic industries for shaping and finishing operations
of a variety of parts of the opening windows that are a few
microns in diameter [5]. The accuracy of machining can be
improved by the use of pulsed electrical current. Controlling
the wave pattern of pulsed current and the time of pulsed
on/off is effective [6,7]. Among the often considered elec-
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-3-5715131x3748;
fax: +886-3-5722840.
E-mail address: hocheng@pme.nthu.edu.tw (H. Hocheng).
trolytes, the current efficiency is nearly 100% for NaCl. The
current efficiency depends on the current density in use of
NaNO3 [8].
The design of electrode in ECM is a major concern.
Keylov presented the inverse problem of Cauchy for tool de-
sign in Laplace equation and, using complex analysis, was
able to solve the problem exactly for a limited number of an-
ode geometries based in analytical fashion [9,10]. Another
well known approach is the cos θ method for cathode shape
design. This approach assumes that the distance between the
workpiece and the tool to be inversely proportional to cos θ,
where θ is the angle between the tool feed direction and the
normal of the workpiece surface. The method is valid only
as a first-order approximation for small values of θ, while
highly curved anode shapes cannot be accurately treated
[11]. A few numerical analyses have been applied to the
cathode design in ECM. An example is a boundary element
method to solve Laplace equation within the inter-electrode
gap and tested three different formulations to update the
cathode boundary position [12]. The above research focused
on the effect of electrical field, while the gap changing with
time was not considered.
The authors proposed an analytical model of electrochem-
ical erosion to predict the machined profile of the workpiece.
The prediction describes the development of the erosion
profile as a function of time and the changing gap opening.
The results can be used for both dimensional control of

0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0924-0136(03)00791-X
 H. Hocheng et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 140 (2003) 264–268 265

anode and design of cathode. Based on this method, the cor-

rect cathode for a desired anode workpiece can be designed
properly. The analytical results are compared with experi-
ment, which includes various conditions of machining time,
electrolyte concentration, voltage and initial electrode gap.

2. Progressive model of anode profile machined by

flat-end cathode

A two-dimensional model for the applied process is shown

in Fig. 1. The electrode is placed above the workpiece with
gap δ. It is considered a line electrode of width d.
The electric field intensity (E) applied on the workpiece
made by a point charge (P) on electrode is inversely pro-
portional to the square of distance (R) between P and the
Fig. 2. Development of the predicted erosion profile.
considered point on workpiece (Q):
q
E∝ 2 (1) time step. Substituting the new value of gap into the model
R
to do the second iteration, one can renew the profile and the
where q is the charge density, and gap distance between electrode and workpiece. Continuing


R = (x − a)2 + δ2 (2) the iteration operation, the model describes the development
of the surface of workpiece during the ECM process. Fig. 2
The amount of material erosion found on the workpiece shows the formation of the final shape calculated by the
caused by a single charge on the electrode is further assumed iterations of model. At the beginning, the reaction goes faster
proportional to E. In the model, the line electrode is divided obviously. The more iterations done, the more stable profile
into differential point charge sources. Considering one single is developed. The width of the erosion changes less during
point on the workpiece, it is influenced by all the point the iteration processes.
charges on the line electrode. To add up all the erosion
effects, an integral of the charge source from one edge to
another of the line electrode is carried out. The actual eroded 3. Experiment
depth caused by the equivalent line electrode at each time
increment can be calculated by an iteration: The experiment is setup on a desktop CNC machine as
shown in Fig. 3. The precision of the electrode gap con-
y1 = δ, yi+1 = yi + t mi (i ≥ 1), trolled by Z-axis of the CNC machine is within 2 ␮m. The
 d/2  d/2
c c electrode is a widely used 3/7 copper alloy as tool. The
mi = da = − da (3)
d/2 R2 d/2 (x − a) 2 + y2
i
electrode has been machined to uniform diameter of 0.3 mm
and smooth end. The workpiece is SKD 61 stainless steel
where c is a constant of electric efficiency. which has been polished to the initial surface roughness of
At the first step of the machining, the equation draws Ra = 0.01 ␮m and is fixed in a tank filled with NaNO3 elec-
an initial eroded profile of the workpiece. When the first trolyte. The electrolyte is set to room temperature. There is
iteration is done, the shape of the workpiece was eroded into
an indent so that the gap distance from the electrode to the
new surface of workpiece has changed. Every point on the
new surface of workpiece has a new gap value after the first

Fig. 1. Scheme of the 2D model of ECM at machining time = t. Fig. 3. Experimental setup.
266 H. Hocheng et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 140 (2003) 264–268

Table 1
Parameters in experiment
Machining time (s) 60, 120, 240
NaNO3 electrolyte (M) 2.5, 5
Voltage (V) 4.5, 5.5
Initial gap (mm) 0.1, 0.2

a pump attached to the tank and the outlet of the pump is

aimed at the end of the electrode. The direction of the outlet
and the electrolyte circulating system were controlled care-
fully to maintain the stability of the current. The flow rate
of the pump is 6 cm3 /s. The power supply is a stable voltage
source ranging from 0 to 15 V. The experimental parame-
ters for the preliminary tests include time, voltage, electrode
gap and electrolyte concentration. In the following cases,
the time setting is 60, 120 and 240 s. The voltage setting is
4.5 and 5.5 V. The gap is 0.1 and 0.2 mm. The electrolyte
is 2.5 and 5 M NaNO3 . Table 1 illustrates the experimental
parameters.
The machined profile of workpiece is measured by Taly-
surf and WYCO surface roughness measurement equipment.
The resolution is within 10 nm in the 6 mm range. The ap-
propriate intensity of the lighting is essential for successful
signal extraction. Once the data of the machined surface is
acquired, the amount of material removal is calculated by
simple numerical integration.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Prediction of machined profile

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the comparison of the experimen-

tal data and the model reveals that the prediction is satisfac-
tory for simulation of the eroded profile, particularly when
elapsed time is more than 1 min. The model error is larger
in the first minute (23%) than in the fourth minutes (10%).
When the machining time increases, the depth of the ero-
sion is enlarged significantly. The hole depth increases four
times while the time increases from 60 to 240 s. However,
the erosion depth produced by a stationary electrode will
saturate after 4 min or more. At the beginning, the cavity is
shallow and the gap between the electrode and the work-
piece is small. During the process, the erosion gets deeper
and the gap becomes larger, which will slow down the ma-
chining process by decreasing the electric field intensity as
shown by Eq. (1).
The gap will influence the eroded profile significantly. Fig. 4. Predicted and experimental erosion profile: voltage = 6 V, elec-
When the gap is set small, the reaction will be acute. If the trolyte consistency = 2.5 M, gap = 0.25 mm, diameter of the electrode =
gap is smaller than 0.1 mm, the undesired electric discharge 0.3 mm.
will happen. If the voltage is set too high, the electric are
causing electrochemical discharge machining is produced. 4.2. Effects of machining parameters on material removal
To avoid the formation of the electric arc, the voltage is
limited below 10 V and kept constant in the experiments. Fig. 5 illustrates the material removal is proportional to
Based on the experiment, the constant in Eq. (2) is found 6.6. machining time, while its effect saturates with elapsed time.
 H. Hocheng et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 140 (2003) 264–268
Fig. 5. Effect of machining time on material removal.
Fig. 6. Effect of electrolyte concentration on material removal.
Longer machining removes more material proportionally in
the early period. In the mean time the electrode gap in-
creases. which causes the reduction of energy efficiency
hence the material removal becomes less effective. Fig. 6
illustrates the effect of electrolyte concentration on mate-
rial removal. Since the current density is proportional to the
concentration of electrolyte, thus the amount of material re-
moval increases with the electrolyte concentration. Fig. 7
shows the volume of material removal increases with volt-
age across the electrode gap. Higher voltage brings more
electrical current and stronger electrical field across the elec-
trode gap, hence the amount of the electrochemical erosion
is larger. Fig. 8 illustrates the effect of initial gap on mate-
Fig. 7. Effect of voltage on material removal.
267
Fig. 8. Effect of initial gap on material removal.
Fig. 9. Micrograph of machined hole top: 240 s, 5 M, 5 V, 0.1 mm.
rial removal. One finds narrower initial gap produces larger
amount of material removal. Truly, the resistance across the
anode and cathode is inversely proportional to the initial
gap. More electrical energy is consumed without material
removal due to the resistance. The effective electrical field
on the anode is decreased with wider electrode gap, thus
less material is removed.
4.3. Effects of machining parameters on hole diameter
Fig. 9 illustrates the micrograph of the top of machined
hole. It shows fairly round profile as desired. However, the
produced diameter must be investigated for effective con-
trol of the final dimension at various machining conditions,
which is a major concern of manufacturing engineer. The ef-
fect of machining time on the cavity size is shown in Fig. 10.
The hole is obviously enlarged by machining time, since
Fig. 10. Effect of machining time on diameter of hole.
268 H. Hocheng et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 140 (2003) 264–268
Fig. 11. Effect of electrolyte concentration on diameter of hole.
Fig. 12. Effect of voltage on diameter of hole.
Fig. 13. Effect of initial gap on diameter of hole.
the material removal takes place continuously. Figs. 11–13
show less significant effects of the electrolyte concentration,
the applied voltage and the initial gap on hole dimension.
Among which the applied voltage possesses mild influence.
Higher voltage produces stronger electrical field for machin-
ing, hence more material is removed. On the other hand, the
initial gap and electrolyte concentration hardly causes any
further effects after a stable radial gap is produced.
5. Conclusions
A computational model is proposed to predict the ero-
sion profile during ECM process in use of a simple flat-end
electrode. The iteration integral method well simulates the
development of the machined profile with elapsed time. The
simulation agrees with the experimental results. The authors
also discuss the influences of machining time, electrolyte
concentration, voltage, initial gap on the amount of mate-
rial removal and diameter of hole. The material removal
increases with increasing electrical voltage, molar concen-
tration of electrolyte, machining time and reduced initial
gap. The produced diameter of hole can be controlled mostly
with machining time, while other conditions apply mild ef-
fects.
Acknowledgements
The research is supported by National Science Council
under 91-2212-E007-048.
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