Electrochemical machining (ECM) provides an economical and effective method for shaping and smoothing high strength, heat-resistant materials into complex shapes. In practice the costly trial and error approach of designing tool-electrodes and selection of processing parameters is still followed. This coupled with the initial high cost of ECM set-up, high wages of skilled operators and very high cost of components to be machined are the main obstacles to realize the full industrial potential of ECM. The paper presents the concept and prototype development of a Computer-Aided Engineering System for solution of manufacturing problems of ECM such as: tool-electrode-design, selection of machining and parameters, optimization, The solutions based on Computer Simulation System have been obtained for different kinds of ECM operations (EC sinking, EC milling, EC smoothing, ECM-CNC with universal electrode, etc.). The results of computer simulation of ECM processes are also presented in the paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
