Simulation of Wear of Tool Electrode with Sharp Edges in EDM(Electrical machining)

Abstract

This paper describes a die-sinking EDM simulation which can simulate the wear of tool electrode with sharp edges. The simulation is based on the discharge location searching algorithm where the discharge spot is determined by the rule that the probability of discharge occurrence is higher where the gap length is shorter. The necessary minimum node interval for simulating the wear of sharp edges was obtained, and a triangular mesh whose node interval decreases with decreasing the distance to the edge was generated. Simulation results indicate that rounding of tool electrode edges occurs due to the wider opposing area on the work piece per unit tool electrode area at the edge than on the flat surface.