ELECTROCHEMICAL MACHINING METHOD AND POWER SOURCE FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD

The invention relates to electrochemical machining of current-conducting materials and can be used in the production of punches, pressing molds and other complex-shaped components at the finishing stage. The method comprises supplying square microsecond current pulses synchronized with the moment of maximum convergence of an electrode instrument and an electrode blank for machining within the following parameter range: pulse length t = 10...500 µs, length of the leading and trailing pulse edges Ä f = 0,5...5,0 µs, voltage amplitude U a =10-100 V, amplitude density of the current j = 100...10000 A/cm 2 . The process is carried out with the amplitude and pulse length being adjusted in such a manner that the trailing edge of each pulse corresponds to the moment of the greatest electro-conductivity across an inter-electrode gap. The power source is in the form of current generators connected in parallel, in which each generator is connected to a load via a current switch so as to short out the current generator when the current of the generator is not yet at the specified value or when there needs to be a pause between the pulses and switching of the current to pick up and carry the load, in order to form a pulse of the specified length on the load. The normally closed contact of the current switch is connected to a common point while the normally opened contact is connected to the current generator via a diode. The invention makes it possible to increase the efficiency of the electrochemical machining of current-conducting materials and to provide a high-quality surface by optimizing the current pulse parameters and the use of a reliable power source with a common control system.