Investigations on Electrochemical Discharge Machining of Al2O3 Ceramics

The machining of ceramics materials in the conventional machining process is a tedious one. This research work attempts the investigations on electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) used to material removal of ceramics such as aluminum oxide (Al2O3) with the working medium of the NaOH electrolyte. This machining method will be a better alternative method for industrial applications. The key effort of this work is to attain better material removal rate (MRR) and to minimize the overcut problem. The process parameters are selected for machining such as applied voltage, electrolyte concentration with three different levels. The results reveal that machining of ceramics can be done by electrochemical discharge machining, and the maximum material removal rate is obtained by using the higher concentration of electrolyte.