Stray-Corrosion-Free Dimple Texturing Through Electrochemical Machining with Electrolyte Absorbed in a Porous Solid Ball

Dimple textures are widely used in industrial production. For example, these dimple textures are used as oil pockets in the contact area of sliding surfaces to supply lubricant oils, which leads to an increase in wear resistance and to a change in friction from dry or boundary to mixed or full film lubrication. In various dimple texturing methods, the electrochemical machining (ECM) method is used for its merits of no heat-affected layer, no residual stress et al. In this research, to process dimple textures, a new ECM method with a porous solid ball used as the electrolyte absorption material was used. During processing, since the distribution of the electrolyte is limited by the electrolyte absorption material, there are no electrochemical reactions occurring in the area without electrolyte, which lead to the realization of stray-corrosion-free. Combining with the control of the power supply switching and the relative movement between the tool electrode and the workpiece, shallow dimples with different depths, lengths, and patterns were obtained. In addition, the proposed dimple texturing method was analyzed with simulation to investigate the electric potential, the current density distribution, and the processed result in the processing area.