Research on laser and electrochemical synchronous composite machining of small holes

Small hole structures are widely used in aerospace fields, but they are difficult to fabricate because of stringent quality requirements and the difficult-to-cut materials. In this paper, the shaped tube electrochemical and laser synchronous composite machining method are used to fabricate the small holes on the surface of titanium alloy with high quality and efficiency by taking advantage of the local thermal effect and fast removal rate of laser, and high surface quality of electrochemical machining. The relationship between the size of the entrance and exit of small holes and the machining process parameters was studied, and the influencing factors of the entrance and exit of small holes morphology were analyzed. After optimizing the machining process parameters, the through hole machining with a feed speed of 5mm/min was finally realized on the surface of the material with a thickness of 5mm. Overall, this work has shown that the combination of tubular electrode electrolysis and laser synchronous machining has high potential to improve the efficiency and quality of small hole machining, and this method can be further applied to deep small hole machining.