Research on Micro-Size Electrical Discharge Machining Polycrystalline Diamond

Abstract

With the demand of modern cutting technology for ‘high efficiency, precise, flexibility and green manufacturing’, polycrystalline diamond materials as cutting tools have been widely used in automobile, aerospace and non-metal processing. Electro-spark erosion is one of the most effective ways to machine polycrystalline diamond materials. Single pulse discharge is one of the research foundations of micro-EDM. Using 2 micron granularity polycrystalline diamond as experiment material, the influence of single pulse discharge technology on the removal efficiency of materials was studied, such as pit radius, pit depth and radius-depth ratio, etc. The experimental results show that, with the extension of the pulse duration, the radius of the discharge pit begins to increase rapidly, then slowly increases, and finally to slow down; while the radius of thermal influence zone increases rapidly and then continues to increase slowly. With the extension of pulse duration, the ratio of pit depth to radius changes within the range of 0.05 ~ 0.25, which shows a downward trend basically.