Hybrid machining processes

Abstract

Advanced engineering materials, including inter alia fiber-reinforced composites, super alloys, and ceramics, offer superior thermal, physical, chemical, and mechanical properties in the form of better strength, higher weight-to-volume ratio, improved corrosion, and wear resistance, to name a few. These properties have permitted the design of products with better properties, but they have also made these advanced materials difficult to machine by conventional machining processes thus making them unsuitable and uneconomical. Complex 3-D forms, tight tolerances, acute surface finishes, and stringent design constraints have necessitated research of new machining methods capable of processing the difficult-to-machine advanced materials economically and accurately. The basic idea behind a hybrid machining process is the synergistic combination of constituent machining processes in order to overcome their individual shortcomings and achieve effective material removal. This chapter has summarized some important aspects of the literature on hybrid machining processes. Machining processes in general are categorized into mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical processes based on their dominant material removal mechanism. Working principles and mechanisms material removal of existing hybrid processes and their capabilities have been discussed. It is noted that the complex physicochemical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical interactions associated with hybrid machining processes are yet to be fully understood, and there exists a knowledge gap due to the unresolved issues.