Experimental Investigation of Electrochemical Micro Turning of Ti6Al4V With NaOH Solution
Abstract Ti6Al4V is a highly favorable material in biomedical, aerospace and many other industries. However, rapid tool wear during machining has made Ti6Al4V into a difficult-to-machine material. Electrochemical machining may be a solution to that challenge. Moreover, high chemical affinity and formation of oxide layer over the surface have limited the application electrochemical machining for Ti6Al4V. In this paper, an experimental approach of electrochemical micro turning of Ti6Al4V has been described. The electrolyte was 10% aqueous solution of NaOH and the tool was SS 310. For each and every experiment workpiece rotational speed and machining time were kept constant. Constant DC voltage was applied and the inter-electrode gap between tool and workpiece was kept constant for each experiment. Experiments were performed using two different levels of applied voltage, axial feed rate and inter-electrode gap. Their effects over MRR and surface roughness have been determined. Additionally, the optimum working condition was determined in order to maximize MRR and minimize surface roughness. For each experiment, acceptable material removal and good surface finish have been achieved. The maximum surface roughness (Ra) was found 1.128 μm in experiment 1. The utilization of NaOH solution has resulted in controlled electrolyzing current, controlled material removal and therefore, good surface finish.