Abstract: To extend the application of blasting erosion arc machining, a new arc machining process-flank milling blasting erosion arc machining is proposed, which can process continuous curved surfaces and ruled surfaces. Compared to other processes which utilize arc to machine, flank milling blasting erosion arc machining mainly uses the flank of its electrode to remove workpiece material. It can implement machining of complex surfaces, cavities with large radius of curvature, slots and passages as well. The hole array distributed on the side wall and the rotary motion of the electrode enhance the flushing in the inter electrode gap, combining both mechanisms of hydrodynamic arc breaking mechanism and mechanical moving arc breaking mechanism, thereby obtaining high material removal rate. In order to explore the influence of flushing on machining performance of flank milling blasting erosion arc machining, the inter electrode gap flow models of different electrodes and different inlet pressure are built for simulations. Meanwhile, the machining experiments are conducted. Both simulation and experiments indicate that the increase of number of flushing holes lead to a better machining performance while the inlet pressure kept at 1.6 MPa. It attributes to the improvement of the inter electrode gap flow field, thus maintaining better arcing state. Experiments demonstrate that the material removal rate can reach 4 095 mm3/min and the relative tool wear ratio maintained below 2.5% while the peak current is 400 A. The passage of turbine is machined to demonstrate the feasibility of flank milling blasting erosion arc machining.

Key words: flank milling blasting erosion arc machining, flushing holes distribution, inlet pressure, machining experiment