In electrochemical machining, which can be employed to shape workpieces made of metallic materials with low machinability, the shape of the tool cathode has to be determined a priori. In the present work, conditions for the existence of exact solutions to the inverse problem of tool shape design are investigated analytically. A solution concept based on shape optimization is developed and implemented using the open-source C++ toolbox OpenFOAM. Analytical and numerical cross-checks verify the accuracy of the numerically computed tool shapes.
Jinming Lu
Cathode shape design OpenFOAM steady-state electrochemical machining