View article

Electrochemical machining process is a viable option for machining of electrically conducting materials, and it plays an exceptional role in the domain of micro-manufacturing. Large area texturing of these materials are gaining a lot of industrial applications. This work presents a detailed investigation into the application of multiple tools for machining micro features like sharklet and ribbed patterns. In order to enhance the productivity of the process a sequential pulse power supply is developed in house which offers a freedom of selecting desired firing sequence to multiple tool electrodes. High pulse frequency is used in the experiments so as to obtain localized dissolution while generating features. Two different machining sequences are used for generating sharklet pattern and ribbed patterns on SS316L workpiece. For the developed patterns, dynamics of fluid flow simulations on plain, ribbed and sharklet patterns are carried out on COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 software. It is found that sharklet patterns demonstrated maximum drag reduction as compared to ribbed and plain surfaces.