Electrochemical drilling of multiple holes with electrolyte-extraction

This paper proposes an electrochemical drilling method of multiple holes in which the reverse electrolyte flow is achieved in the way of electrolyte-extraction, instead of traditional forward electrolyte flow which often causes poor electrolyte flow condition and so unstable machining process. The combining manifold is optimized to equalize electrolyte flow rate in each electrode tube. Furthermore, wedge-shaped electrode tubes are adopted in order to distribute the electrolyte flow more uniformly while holes with inclination angles are processed. By the proposed technique, multiple holes with diameter of 1–2 mm and aspect ratios of 2 have been produced with good quality and efficiency.