Experimental set up

The work material

Mild steel will be used in this study as the workpiece (roughly faced disc). It is the most
commonly available of the cold-rolled steels. Mild steel is a type of plain carbon steel and is the
most common steel used because its price is relatively low while providing good material
properties for many applications such as structural works. Its carbon content 0.18% making it
malleable, ductile and has relatively low tensile strength. Forgings, stampings, sheets and plates,
bars, rods and tubes are made of mild steels. Chemically, Mild steel Alloy 1018 is very similar to
A36 Hot Rolled steel, but the cold rolling process creates a better surface finish and better
properties. [x].
Eagle steel. 2012. Low Carbon Steel. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.eaglesteel.com/download/techdocs/Carbon_Steel_Grades.pdf. [Accessed 15 October 14].
Table 1.1 Physical properties of Mild steel Alloy 1018 [1]


Table 1.2 Chemical composition of Mild steel Alloy 1018 [1]
Iron (Fe) 98.81 - 99.26%
Carbon (C) 0.18%
Manganese (Mn) 0.6-0.9%
Phosphorus (P) 0.04% max
Sulfur (S) 0.05% max
Youngs Modulus (GPa) 210
Density (Mgm
-3
) 7.85
Yield Strength (MPa) 370
Ultimate Tensile Strength(MPa) 440
Poisson Ratio 0.29
Shear Modulus (GPa) 80
Rockwell Hardness B71
Melting Temperature (
o
C) 1350 - 1530

Table 1.3 Electrical properties of Mild steel Alloy 1018

Electrical Properties at 0
o
C

1.59 x 10
-5
-cm

Electrical Properties at 100
o
C

2.19 x 10
-5
-cm

Electrical Properties at 200
o
C

2.93 x 10
-5
-cm



Machine and Tool
The whole experimental conducted on Electrochemical machining set up from the University of
Mauritius. The experimental set up will consist of an electro machining unit and electrolysis
tank. The electrolysis tank will be used to supply the electrolyte to the machining unit by the use
of a pump. The electrolyte used will be sodium chloride (NaCl) with a concentration of 150g/l as
described by D.Zhu et al. the voltage supplied will be 5.64V and a tool holding pressure of 61.0
KN/m described by S.C Tam and N.H Loh. Copper electrode will be used as an electrode
through which the pressurized NaCl electrolyte will pass through described by M.A. Bejar and F.
Gutierrez. The machine unit includes a spindle to insert the electrode. The maximum allowable
current is set (60A) and the inter electrode gap accurately set such as 0.5mm, 0.9mm, 1.3mm,
1.7mm and 2.1mm . Afterwards the machining is done for a specific set of values. The
machining performance of ECM depends majorly on: voltage, Current Density and inter
electrode gap, and the machining time, t, will be set to 3 minutes. The surface roughness
parameters that will be used to assess surface roughness of the workpieces are Ra, Rq, Rt, Rzdin,
Ry and Sm described by A. K. M. De Sllva et al. It has to be noted that 5 workpieces will be
used since it is an adequate size to draw out a good conclusion with minimum cost since data
collection involved lot of money.