Investigation and optimization of pulsed electroforming process parameters for thickness distribution of a revolving nickel part

The objective of this research is to examine the influence of low frequency pulsed electroforming process parameters, such as current, pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and electrolyte temperature, to obtain good thickness uniformity. For this purpose, a pulsed electroforming system was designed and made. Three level, four-parameter experiments were designed using Taguchi method. The effect of parameters and optimal parameters combination were obtained through signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pareto ANOVA method. Also the regression analysis was performed to obtain a predictive model. The results demonstrated that current has a dominant effect on thickness distribution and pulse-on time, temperature and pulse-off time affect thickness distribution, respectively. Optimum electroforming process parameters were determined and experimental tests were conducted to verify the optimized parameters. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method.