Electrical Discharge Machining

3.1. INTRODUCTlON

In electrical energy based processes, electrical

energy is directly used to cut the material to get the final
shape and size.

Examples:
1. Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM)
2. Wire Cut Electrical Discharge Machining (WC EDM)

3.2 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF EDM

In electrical discharge machining (also known as

spark erosion machining or electro-erosion machining),
metal is removed by producing powerful electric spark
discharge between the tool (cathode) and the work
material (anode). This principle is followed in this process.

3.3. CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF EDM

Construction

• Figure shows the schematic layout of the electric

discharge machining process.

• The main components are the electric power supply,

Di electric medium, work piece, tool and a servo control
mechanism.
• The work piece and the tool are electrically connected to
a D.C. power supply.
• The work piece is connected to the positive terminal of
the electric source, so that it becomes the anode. The tool
is connected to the negative terminal of the electric
source, so that it becomes the cathode.

• The tool and work piece are submerged in a dielectric

fluid medium such as paraffin, white spirit or transformer
oil having poor electrical conductivity.

• The function of the servo mechanism is to maintain a

very small gap, known as 'spark gap' ranges of 0.005 to
0.05 mm between the work piece and the tool.
Working:

• When the D.C supply is given to the circuit, spark is

produced across the gap between the tool and the work
piece.

• When the voltage across the gap becomes sufficiently

large (more than 250 V), the high power spark is
produced. So, the dielectric breaks down and electrons
are emitted from the cathode (tool) and the gap is ionized.

• This spark occurs in an interval of 10 to 30 microseconds

and with a current density of 15-500A per mm2
approximately. So, thousands of spark-discharge occur
per second across the gap between the tool and the work,
which results in increasing temperature of about I0000°C.

• At this high pressure and temperature, work piece metal

is melted, eroded and some of it is vaporised. In this way
the metal is removed from the work piece.

The removed fine material particles are carried away

by dielectric fluid circulated around it. The metal removal
rate depends on the spark gap maintained. If anode and
cathode are made of same material, it has been found that
the greatest erosion takes place at anode. Therefore, in
order to remove maximum metal and have minimum wear
on the tool, the tool is made as cathode the work piece as
anode.
• When the voltage drops to about 12 volts, the spark
discharge extinguishes and the dielectric fluid once again
becomes de ionized. The condensers start to recharge
and the process repeats itself.

3.4 DIELECTRIC FLUID

• A dielectric fluid is a medium that does not conduct

electricity. In electrical discharge machining process, the
tool and work piece are submerged in a dielectric fluid
medium. The dielectric fluids generally used are petroleum
based hydrocarbon fluids, paraffin, white spirit,
transformer oil, kerosene, mineral oil or mixture of these.

• Dielectric fluids must not be hazardous to operators or

corrosive to equipment.

• The choice of any dielectric fluid depends on the work

piece size, type of shape, tolerance, metal removal rate
and surface finish. White spirit is best suited for machining
tungsten carbide.

• The dielectric fluid should not be changed frequently on a

Machine, and it is chosen according to the most frequent
application to be carried out in the machine.

• The dielectric fluid must circulate freely between the tools

and work piece.

• The eroded particles should be flushed out at the earliest

since it reduces the further metal removal rate.

• The various methods of flushing are pressure flushing,

suction flushing and side flushing which are shown in Fig
3.2.

• The dielectric fluid should be filtered before reuse so that

chip contamination of the fluid will not affect machining
accuracy.
• The dielectric fluid should be easily available at
reasonable price

3.5 FUNCTION OF DIELECTRIC FLUIDS

The dielectric fluid has the following functions

1. It acts as an insulating medium.

2. It cools the spark region and helps in keeping the

Tool and work piece cool.

3. It carries away the eroded metal particles along with

it.

4. It maintains a constant resistance across the gap.

5. It remains electrically non conducting until the

required Break down voltage has been reached.

6. It breakdown electrically in the shortest possible time

once the breakdown voltage has been reached.

3.6. TOOL ( ELECTRODE) MATERIALS AND TOOL

WEAR

• The tool materials generally used can be classified as

metallic materials(copper, brass, copper-tungsten
etc),non-metallic materials (graphite) and combination of
metallic and non-metallic materials (copper - graphite).
• Copper, yellow brass, alloys of zinc, copper tungsten,
silver tungsten, tungsten carbide and graphite are used
for tool materials.

• For commercial applications, copper is best suited for

fine machining, aluminum is used for die-sinking and cast
iron for rough machining.

The three most commonly used materials are given below.

i) Graphite

Graphite is a non-metallic which is generally- used as a

tool material in Electrical Discharge Machining processes.
A wide range of grades are available in graphite and these
are used for variety of applications. A big advantage of
graphite is though it is abrasive, it can be produced by
several methods like machining, moulding, milling,
grinding etc. Graphite can generally achieve better metal
removal rates and fine surface finishes than metallic tool
materials. One disadvantage of graphite is; it is costlier
than copper.

ii. Copper

Copper is a second choice for using as tool material

in Electrical Discharge Machining processes. It can be
produced by casting or machining. Copper tools with very
complex features are formed by chemical etching or
electro forming.
iii. Copper – tungsten

Copper - tungsten tool material is difficult to machine

and it has low metal removal rate. It is costlier than
graphite and copper.

• The selection of proper tool material is influenced by

i) Size of electrode and volume of material to be removed.

ii) Surface finish required.
iii)Tolerance required.
iv) Nature of coolant application etc.
• The basic requirements of any tool material are

i. It should have low erosion rate.

ii. It should be electrically conductive.
iii. It should have good machinability.
iv. Melting point of the tool should be high.
v. It should have high electron emission.
Tool wear

• As the tool does not come into contact with the work, life
of tool is long and less wear and tear takes place.

• The tool wear ratio is defined as the ratio of volume of

work material removed to the volume of electrode (tool)
consumed.
• The wear ratio for brass electrode is 1:1, for copper is 2:1
and for copper tungsten is 8:1 for non metallic (graphite)
wear ratio may vary from 5:1 to 50:1.

3.7 METAL REMOVAL RATE (MRR) AND SURFACE

FINISH

The metal removal rate is generally described as the

volume of metal removed per unit time.

• Metal removal rate depends upon current density and it

increases with current. But high removal rates produce
poor finish. Therefore, the usual practice in EDM is a
roughing cut with a heavy current followed by a finishing
cut with less current.

• Metal removal rates up to 80mm3/s can be achieved and

surface finishes of 0.25 11m can be obtained at very low
cutting rates.

• The material being cut wm affect the metal removal rate.

The experiments indicate that the metal removal rate
(MRR) varies inversely with melting point of the metal. The
approximate value is
• Tolerances of the order of ± 0.05 to 0.13 mm are
commonly achieved by EDM in normal production and
with extra care, tolerances of ± 0.003 to 0.013 mm are
possible.

3.8 FACTORS AFFECTING THE METAL REMOVAL

RATE (MRR)

1. Metal removal rate increases with forced circulation of

dielectric fluid.
2. It increases with capacitance.
3. It increases up to optimum value of work-tool gap, after
that it drops suddenly.
4. It increases up to optimum value of spark discharge
time, after that it decreases.
5. Metal removal rate is maximum when the pressure is
below atmosphere.

3.9 BREAKDOWN MECHANISM

• The cathode electrode is assumed to be source of

producing electrons which are emitted either by field effect
or by schottky effect.

• The electrons liberated from the cathode are accelerated

until they gain sufficient energy to ionize the liquid
molecules and initiate an electron avalanche.
• The applied field E, at which an electron avalanche can
be initiated is given as

Where
e - Charge
E - Applied field
- Mean free path of electron
c - Velocity of light
hv - Ionization quantum for the liquid molecule

This theory is used to magnitude the breakdown

strength of hydrocarbons. But it does not taking into
account for the ignition delay observed between the
applied voltage and breakdown voltage.

• Breakdown in gas is introduced by collisional ionization

of the molecules. But in liquid, collisional ionization of the
molecules by electrons is not possible due to insufficient
kinetic energy of the electrons. In order to avoid this, a
pre-breakdown electron current flows from the cathode to
anode. This low current heats the liquid to form a vapour
bubble of sufficient pressure in between the electrodes.
Then a spark is produced in the vapour bubble according
to the high pressure gas-discharge mechanism.
POWER GENERATING CIRCUITS OR SPARK
GENERATING CIRCUITS

Power generator is one of the most important parts of

an electrical discharge machining processes. Its primary
function is to convert an alternating current (AC) into a
pulsed direct current (DC) which is required to produce the
unidirectional spark discharges between the gap of the
tool and work piece. A rectifier is used to convert the AC
into DC. The most commonly used spark generating
circuits are given below

1. Resistance - Capacitance circuit (RC circuit) or

relaxation circuit.
2. R-C-L circuit.
3. Rotary pulse generator circuit.
4. Controlled pulse generator circuit.

i. Relaxation circuit

Fig 3.3 shows the operation of Resistance –

Capacitance (R-C) generator circuit. This type of
generators are quite common because of its simplicity and
lower cost. In this system, Direct Current (D.C) is flowing
through a resistor (R) and it charges the capacitor (C). The
charged capacitor is connected to the machine. When the
voltage across the capacitor is sufficiently high (50 to
200V), dielectric medium breakdown occurs. So, the
dielectric medium between the tool and work is ionized
and spark takes place. Millions of electrons are developed
in each spark. During sparking period, the voltage falls
and it again starts rising (since the capacitor is charged
again) as shown in fig. 3.3.

For maximum power delivery, the discharge voltage

(V) should be 75% of the supply voltage

Drawbacks of Relaxation circuit Work (+Ve)

1. Though the discharge current in a relaxation circuit
reaches a high value, it is of very short duration.

2. Since the time for charging the capacitor is high, the

use of high frequencies is limited.
II. R-C-L circuit

In the relaxation circuit, metal removal rate increases

as R is decreased. But R cannot be decreased below a
critical value. If R decreases below a critical value, arcing
will take place instead of sparking. Further, the capacitor
charging time in R-C circuit is much higher than
discharging time. Therefore an inductance (L) is included
in the charging circuit. This R-C-L circuit is shown in

iii. Rotary pulse generator

The introduction of pulse generator has overcome the

drawbacks of R-C and R-C-L circuits R-C and R-L-C
circuits yield low metal removal rate Therefore, rotary
pulse generator is used for spark generation. It yields high
metal removal rate, low tool wear and more precise control
of parameters. Fig. 3.5 shows the schematic diagram of
rotary impulse generator circuit. In this circuit, the
capacitor (C) is discharged through the diode during the
first half cycle. During the next half cycle, the sum of
voltages generated by the generator and the charged
capacitor is applied to the work- tool gap.
This arrangement gives more metal removal rate, but
surface finishing is poor.

iv. Controlled pulse generator circuit

Fig 3.6 shows the arrangement of controlled pulse

circuit. R-C, R-C-L and rotary pulse generator circuits are
not having automatic prevention of the current flow incase
a short circuit is developed.To obtain such an automatic
control, a vacuum tube or a transistor is used as switching
device as shown in Fig. 3.6.
3.11. PROCESS PARAMETERS

The following factors influences the process parameters in

EDM processes

1. Operating parameters

Operating process involves the removal of metal from

the work piece and tool as a measure of electrical energy
input.

Based on the above considerations, it is well

understood that the MRR, and TWR are governed by the
following
 i. Energy content of the pulses.
ii. The rate at which the energy supplied.
iii. Servo sensitivity.
iv. Gap width and
v. Dielectric parameters.

Tool wear rate is required to calculate tooling cost,

machining accuracy and estimate the time of machining
for a desired depth of cut. There are three types of wear
observed in the tool (Electrode) which is shown in fig. 3.7

They are
1. End wear
2. Corner wear
3. Side wear
 2. Taper

Tapering effect is observed due to the side sparks

which is shown in fig. 3.8. Under high dielectric pollution,
side sparks are more pronounced as compared to frontal
sparks
Surface finish.

The surface finish of the material depends upon the

following factors

i. Energy of the pulse and

ii. Frequency of operation

The roughness of the material is observed within a

bandwidth depending upon single or multi spark
conditions.

3. Current Density

The current density is the most important parameter

which determines the material removal rate and surface
condition. Current density is affected by either changing
the current or changing the electrode (tool) - work piece
gap.

When the current is increased, each individual spark

removes a larger crater of metal from the workpiece. But it
also increases surface roughness. Increasing spark
frequency results in decrease in surface roughness and
reduces the removal of crater of metal from the work
piece.

The gap between the electrode (tool) and workpiece

is determined by the spark voltage and current. A small
gap produces more accuracy with a better surface finish
and slower metal removal rate.

3.12. ADVANTAGES OF EDM PROCESS

It can be used for machining various materials such

as tungsten carbides, electrically conductive materials,
and other hard materials.

3.12. ADVANTAGES OF EDM PROCESS

1. It can be used for machining various materials such

as tungsten carbides, electrically conductive materials,
and other hard materials.

4. It gives good surface finish.

5. Machining of very thin section is possible.

6. It does not leave any chips or burrs on the workpiece.

7. It is well suited for complicated components.

8. Since there is no cutting forces act on the job, error

due to elastic deformation is eliminated.

9. High accuracy is obtained.

10. Fine holes can be easily drilled.

 9. It is a quicker process so, harder materials can also
be machined at much faster rate than conventional
machining.
10. The process once setup does not need constant
operator’s attention.

3.13. DISADVANTAGES (LIMITATIONS)

1. It is only used for machining electrically conductive

materials. So non-metallic such as plastics, ceramics or
glass cannot be machined by EDM.

2. It is suitable only for machining small work pieces.

3. Electrode wear and over cut are serious problems.

4. Perfectly square corners cannot be made by EDM

process.

5. Metal removal rate is slow.

6. Power requirement is very high.

7. In many cases, the surface machined has been found to

have micro cracks.
3.14. APPLICATIONS

This is the most widely used machining process

among the non-traditional machining methods. Its
applications are as follows

1. Production of complicated and irregular shaped profiles.

2. Thread cutting in jobs.

3. Drilling of micro holes.

4. Helical profile drilling.

5. Curved hole drilling.

6. Resharpening of cutting tools and broaches.

7. Remachining of die cavities without annealing.

Wire Cut Electro-Discharge Machining (WCEDM) or
Travelling Wire Electro-Discharge Machining (TWEDM)
Construction

• Fig shows the schematic diagram of WCEDM process.

• A very thin wire (.02 to 0.3mm) made of brass or

molybdenum having circular cross section is used as an
electrode (tool).

• The wire is stretched and moved between two rollers.

The part of wire is eroded by the spark.

• The prominent feature of a moving wire is that a

complicated cutout can easily machined without using a
electrode.
It consist of

i. Work piece movement control unit.

ii. Work piece mounting table.

iii. Wire drives section for accurately moving the wire at

constant tension.

iv. Dielectric fluid supplying unit

v. Power supplying unit.

Working

Work piece to be machined is mounted on the table

which is operated by control unit. A very small hole is
predrilled in the work piece through which a very thin wire
made of brass or molybdenum is passed as Shown in fig.
3.9 and this wire is operated by wire feed mechanism.

• Dielectric fluid (distilled water) is passed over the work

piece and the wire (tool) by using pump.

• When the D.C supply is given to the circuit, spark is

produced across the gap between the wire and the work
piece.

• When the voltage across the gap becomes sufficiently

large, the high power spark is produced.
 This spark occurs in an interval of 10 to 30
microseconds and with a current density of 15-500 A per
mm2 approximately. So, thousands of spark discharge
occur per second across the very small gap between the
wire and the work piece, which results in Increasing
temperature of about 10,000°C.

• At this high pressure and temperature, work piece metal

is melted, eroded and some of it is vaporized. The metal is
thus removed in this way from the work piece.

• The removed fine material particles are carried away by

dielectric fluid circulated around it.

FEATURES OF WIRE CUT EDM PROCESS (OR)

ADVANTAGES OF WIRE CUT EDM PROCESS

i. Manufacturing Electrode

In this process a very thin wire made of brass or

molybdenum is used as the electrode (tool) to machine the
work piece material. So, there is no need for
manufacturing electrodes (as in EDM) which are
traditionally made by cutting and grinding by using an
expensive alloy of silver and tungsten. This feature is used
to reduce the man – hour requirements and ensures
greater economy.
ii. Electrode wear

During machining process, the wire electrode (tool) is

constantly fed into the work piece. So the wear of tool is
practically ignored.

iii. Surface finishing

A very thin wire electrode is constantly fed into the work

piece at speed of about 10 to 30 mm/sec by wire feed
mechanism as shown in fig. 3.9. So machining is
continued without any Accumulation of chips and gases. It
gives high surface finish and reduces the manual finishing
operating time.

iv. Complicated shapes

By using program, complicated and very minute

shapes can be efficiently machined. So there is no need of
skilled operators.

v. Time Utilization

Since the entire machine motions of wire cut EDM

processes are controlled by NC, it can be operated
throughout the day without any fire hazards.

vi. Straight holes

The electrode wire is maintained at optimum tension by

a unique wire tension control mechanism. So, it prevents
Taper holes, barrel-shaped holes, wire breakage and wire
vibration.

vii. Rejection

Rejection of material is minimized due to initial

planning and checking the program me.

viii. Economical

Since most of the programming can be easily done, it

is Economical for small batch production, including
prototypes.

xi. Cycle time

Cycle time for die manufacture is shorter, as the

whole Work is done on one machine.

ix. Inspection time

Inspection time for wire cut EDM process is reduced

due to single piece construction of dies with high
positioning accuracy.

DISADVANTAGES

I. Capital cost is high.

2. Cutting rate is slow.
3. It is not suitable for large work pieces.
APPLICATIONS

The wire cut EDM process is best suited for the

production of gears, tools, dies, rotors, turbine blades and
cams for small to Medium size batch production.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EDM AND WIRE CUT

EDM PROCESS
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EDM PROCESS

• Electrical discharge machines change from using

relaxation circuits to faster and more efficient impulse
circuits.

• Instead of using copper as electrode, harder tungsten

copper is preferred.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EDM