An experimental study for evaluating the machining accuracy of LS-WEDT and its application in fabricating micro parts

Abstract

This paper firstly focused on analyzing the machining accuracy of low-speed wire electrical discharge turning (LS-WEDT), and the practical machining is carried out via fabrication of micro parts. Firstly, the concept of LS-WEDT method is proposed and the rotating apparatus is designed and fabricated to make the low-speed wire electrical discharge machine realize the machining of rotary structures. Besides, the effects of machining parameter on roundness of YG8 hard alloy rotary workpiece machined by LS-WEDT are discussed. Besides, experimental results revealed that high consistent accuracy of rotary groove width can be obtained with the wire speed of 45 to 75 mm/s, feed speed of 0.8~1 mm/min, wire tension of 14~16 N, and the lower rotating speed is conductive to obtain high rotary groove accuracy. Furthermore, the intricate relationships of rotating speed, feed speed, and discharge energy for LS-WEDT process are revealed and optimum speed parameters are given for low and high discharge energy, respectively. Finally, using this new process, micro cylindrical shaft and the micro two-edged cutter are successfully fabricated. More importantly, the flexibility of LS-WEDT makes it have superiority in fabricating complicated structures not just limited to the simple rotary parts like cylinder. Consequently, experimental results indicated that spirals microelectrode with average diameter of 395.64 μm and length of 1673.64 μm and the three spirals micro-cutting tool with average diameter of 796.20 μm and length of 2011.15 μm can be firstly and successfully manufactured by LS-WEDT method.