Influence of Cryogenic Coated Copper Tool Electrode in Electrochemical Micro Machining process of Stainless Steel 316

Electrochemical micro-Machining (ECMM) is best suited for machining micro level profiles as it provides several advantages like better precision, less wear and machinability of wide range of materials. Micro level holes in Stainless Steel 316 are generally present in surgical equipment like syringe, suction tips and surgical suture etc. Using various levels of process parameters like voltage, electrolyte concentration, frequency and duty cycle, electrochemical micro machining was performed using untreated and cryogenic treated electrodes and its effect on various response parameters while machining Stainless Steel 316 are studied. From the results obtained, the cryogenic treated tool electrode had a high MRR, 9.8 % of lower overcut, 11.2 % of lower conicity and 3.8 % 0f higher circularity compared to untreated tool electrode because the treated tool has high electrical conductance, high corrosion resistance and smaller grain size. The optimized values for Cryogenic Treated tool was achieved when applied voltage was 10V, electrolyte concentration was 30 g/L, frequency was 50 Hz and duty cycle was 33 %.