Abstract
The surface integrity of a micro electrical discharge machining (micro EDM) surface represents the surface quality of workpiece. The surface quality of micro EDM can be further improved by clarifying the machining mechanism and optimizing processing technology. In this paper, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the tool electrode diameter on the machined surface integrity of micro EDM. The evolutions of the tool diameter on the micro topography, element migration, and surface roughness of workpiece surface machined in pure water and EDM oil were illustrated. The results show that the surface roughness Ra decreases as the tool electrode diameter increased, regardless of the open circuit voltage and dielectric type, owing to the skin effect. The good fluidity and cooling property of pure water and the effect of electrochemical corrosion cause the surface roughness Ra of surface machined in pure water is much larger than that machined in EDM oil. Tool material migrates to the workpiece surface during the micro EDM process, whether pure water or EDM oil is adopted as the working medium. The influence of electrode size on the Cu content of the workpiece surface shows no significant trend. Pure water is more suitable for high efficiency, low-precision micro EDM, while EDM oil is better for high-precision micro EDM.
Highlights
The demands for micro-part and micro-machining become more and more urgent, due to the increasing requirement of micro products in various fields [1,2]
Pure water is more suitable for high efficiency, low-precision micro EDM, is more suitable for high efficiency, low-precision micro EDM, while EDM oil is better for high-precision while EDM oil is better for high-precision micro EDM
Thepaper, evolutions of tool electrode diameter diameter on the surface roughness, element and micro topography the machined workpiece surfacebased wereon element migration, andmigration, micro topography of the machinedofworkpiece surface were discussed discussed based on experimental results
Summary
The demands for micro-part and micro-machining become more and more urgent, due to the increasing requirement of micro products in various fields [1,2]. D’Urso and Ravasio [16,17] indicated that the electrode properties, in terms of both material and diameter, have influence on the drilling performance Their studies are based on macro EDM experiments, and the results and conclusions may be not suitable for micro EDM. Liu et al [18] carried out experiments to investigate the effect of tool size on micro EDM drilling performance They did not study the effect of tool size on surface integrity. Wang et al [19] found that the surface characteristics of micro EDM were significantly influenced by the tool diameter, especially when machining with lower energy They only investigated the effect of tool diameters of. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of tool electrode diameter on the machined surface integrity of micro EDM. The effect of the tool diameter on the workpiece surface integrity was discussed in view of the skin effect
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