Generally speaking, CONVENTIONAL MACHINING /FABRICATION involves changing the shape of a work piece using an implement made of a harder material. Machining hard materials using conventional methods may require significant time and energy and result in high costs. In addition, conventional machining may lead to excessive tool wear and loss of quality in the product owing to induced residual stresses during manufacture. Therefore, especially for hard alloys, non-conventional fabrication techniques may be better alternatives. Whereas conventional fabrication processes generally use mechanical energy (motion), non-conventional fabrication processes utilize other forms of energy. Main forms of energy non-conventional fabrication processes use are: Thermal, Chemical and Electrical Energy. There can be a large number of advantages of non-conventional fabrication techniques over conventional methods. Just to name a few, non-conventional fabrication may involve quieter operation and no sound pollution, such as is the case with Chemical Machining. In non-conventional fabrication, material removal may occur with or without chip formation. For example, in Electrochemical Machining, material removal occurs due to electrochemical dissolution at atomic levels. Non-conventional fabrication may involve lower waste of material due to low or no wear as compared to conventional fabrication. On the other side of the coin, non-conventional fabrication methods do have some disadvantages such as higher capital costs and the need for skilled operators, and non-conventional fabrication methods are not suitable for every type of material economically. A good source for comparing conventional and non-conventional machining techniques in greater technical detail is: Non-Conventional Fabrication, ECM, EDM, PMC, Waterjet Machining,Plasma
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We would be very interested to know your experiences on the limitations of conventional machining processes. Each of us may have different background and experience because there are so many different materials and products that are being produced. Please feel free to share if you have something interesting to learn from.
