A study of the characteristics of the electrochemical deburring of a governor-shaft cross hole

Abstract Burr technology have been developed in the fields of precision manufacturing and high quality machining, but deburring is considered a difficult problem for highly efficient production and automation in FMSs. The removal of burr does not have a standard definition because of its various shapes, dimensions and properties and because it depends mostly on manual treatment. The deburring of internal cross holes, that are perpendicular to a main hole, is especially very difficult. The elimination of a burr from the cross hole of a governor shaft such as is used in the automobile engine, so far has been undertaken by manual post-processing by a skilled worker and becomes a factor in lower productivity and increased cost. Therefore, for high efficiency and automation of the internal deburring of a cross hole, development of electrochemical deburring technology is needed. In this study, the characteristics of electrochemical deburring were identified through experiments and the main factors, such as electrolytic gap and electrolytic fluid, contributing to the elimination of a burr, were analyzed by the height of the burr. Also the deburring efficiency and electrochemical performance for an internal cross hole were examined for different electrolytic current and deburring conditions. Finally, the optimal conditions are determined corresponding to the required edge quality.