Study on flow field of turbine blade with flexible 3-electrode feeding method in ECM

Electrochemical machining (ECM) provides an economical and effective way for machining heat-resistant, high strength materials into complex shapes which are difficult to machine by conventional methods. It has been applied in a lot of industries especially in aerospace to manufacture turbine blade. A flexible 3-Electrode feeding ECM method is presented to machine the profile and platform of turbine blade precisely. Since flow field is a critical factor to affect the ECM process stability and the precision of blade, a mathematical model describing electrolyte flow in the interelectrode gap is developed and the calculated distributions of several flow parameters are also given, then a new electrolyte flow mode named “dual directional inlets” mode is proposed for using the flexible 3-Electrode feeding ECM method to machine turbine blade. The experimental investigations are carried out in order to evaluate the rationality of the designed flow field and the clamping fixture. It reveals that the accuracy and surface quality of blade could be improved and the process stability could be enhanced during ECM. The result of the presented investigation is satisfactory to apply the feeding method and the flow field to machine turbine blades.