Insight into electrochemical cutting using flexible electrode: Electrode structure design, dynamic deformation analysis, and experimental verification

To meet the demand for the machining of blisks with narrow cascade channels and twisted blade profiles, especially integral shrouded blisks with shrouds, this paper innovatively proposes a method for dynamic deformation electrochemical cutting of flexible electrodes with arrayed group slit structure. By applying torque to both ends of the flexible electrode, the proposed method produces bending deformation and realizes the processing of a twisted profile. The flexible electrode is an important carrier of this method, and its properties such as elasticity, rigidity, and flow field uniformity have a crucial impact on smooth processing. Therefore, this paper proposes a design theory of flexible electrodes with an arrayed group slit structure and designs flexible electrodes with variable cross-sections. Compared with traditional uniform section tube electrode, the designed flexible electrode was subjected to the corresponding mechanical simulation, flow field simulation, and fluid–structure interaction simulation to investigate the elasticity, rigidity, and flow field uniformity of the flexible electrode. In addition, a deformation device of flexible electrodes was constructed and the corresponding experiments were carried out. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that flexible electrodes with arrayed group slit structures have good comprehensive performance. Finally, typical components were successfully machined to verify the feasibility of the proposed method and the rationality of the designed flexible electrode. It is shown that the proposed method has great potential for the machining of distorted profiles and provides a new idea for the machining of complex profiles.