EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE ETCHING PROCESS FOR VALIDATION OF NON-CONVENTIONAL SLOT MACHINING IN AERO ENGINE COMPONENT MANUFACTURING

To fulfill service life and integrity requirements when using a non-conventional process in aerospace industry, a comprehensive validation needs to be carried out. According to the state of the art, the characteristically resulting recast layer of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) can be reduced to a few microns. To meet existing requirements for eliminating the recast layer, it is essential for validation to consider the complete process chain consisting of WEDM and the subsequent processes. In this paper, the subsequent process etching in series production is investigated with regard to its suitability for the removal of the white brittle surface layer without leaving any residues. By using a Design of Experiment approach, the residue-free removal of the recast layer by electrolytic etching is investigated.