Fundamental Study on Coating Wire Electrode for High Performance WEDM(Electrical machining)

Abstract

This study aims to develop a new coating wire electrode for higher performance wire EDM instead of the conventional wires. The effects of coating material and its thickness on the fundamental machining characteristics are investigated, in order to understand the optimum structure, using a high-tensile steel wire coated with brass and zinc whose diameter is 200μm. The experimental results showed that the removal rate increased with the thickness of coated brass on the steel wire in WEDM with the brass and zinc coated steel wire. The SEM observation and the element analysis of wires after machining made it clear that the coated brass layer was easy to be removed when the thickness was small, and high tension could be loaded during machining when the thickness of coated brass was large enough to keep the stable machining performance. Furthermore, the effect of zinc coating on the removal rate became remarkable when the thickness of coated brass was relatively small.