Experimental Investigation and Analysis of Electrochemical Discharge Machining (ECDM) On Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP)

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) is a hybrid machining process widely used for machining of non-conducting materials such as glass, quartz, ceramic and other semiconducting materials used in MEMS devices. In this study, ECDM operation is conducted on fiberglass reinforced plastic material with a mixture of NaOH + KOH as electrolyte in equal proportions. Input process parameters such as voltage, duty factor, electrolyte concentration and tool rotation were optimized so as to achieve high material removal rate (MRR). The focus is on experimental investigation and gray relational analysis of ECDM process with flow and without flow of electrolyte. With continuous flow of electrolyte supplied during machining, it is observed that MRR increases albeit being very less.