The Effect of Electrolytic Jet Orientation on Machining Characteristics in Jet Electrochemical Machining

Jet electrochemical machining (Jet-ECM) is a significant prospective electrochemical machining process for the fabrication of micro-sized features. Traditionally and normally, the Jet-ECM process is carried out with its electrolytic jet being vertically impinged downstream against the workpiece. Therefore, other jet orientations, including a vertically upstream orientation and a horizontal orientation, have rarely been adopted. In this study, three jet orientations were applied to electrolytic jet machining, and the effect of jet orientations on machining characteristics was systemically investigated. Horizontal jet orientation is of great benefit in achieving accurate micro-sized features with excellent surface quality with either a static jet or a scanning jet for the Jet-ECM. On the other hand, the Jet-ECM with a horizontal jet orientation has a smaller material removal rate (MMR) than the ones with vertical jet orientations, which have almost the same MMR. It was found that an enhancement of machining localization and a reduction of MMR for horizontal jet electrochemical machining primarily results from an improvement of the mass-transfer field. The horizontal orientation of the jet is beneficial for the Jet-ECM processes to improve machining accuracy.