Gun Tube Rifling Electrochemical Machining Cathode Design and Experiment Study

Mixed rifle has the merit of improving the accuracy, range, and lifetime of gun tube. Due to the large caliber, the deep helix groove, and the long barrel of largecaliber cannon artillery, the traditional way is a complex, reiterative and time consuming process to design an effective cathode for electrochemical machining of rifle. In this paper, in order to improve the efficiency of electrochemical machining and reduce the interference between the rifles and the cathode working teeth, mathematical models are proposed. The computer aided ECM cathode design is described and the three-dimensional cathode body model was set up with UG software. According to the model parameters, the gun tube rifle cathode is designed and manufactured via electrochemical theories, and the experiment was carried out. The experimental results are harmony with the theoretical rifle. It is demonstrated that the computer-aided design for ECM cathode can improve the design precision of cathode, reduce the experimental workload, and shorten the cathode design cycle. Keywords-electrochemical machining (ECM); gun tube; mixed rifle; cathode design; computer aided design