Improvement of Controllability of Discharge Locations in WEDM

Abstract

In this study, it was clarified that discharge locations can be controlled by the principle of locally superimposing high electric fields. Based on this principle, two methods were proposed to improve the controllability of discharge locations in wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM): 1) improving the local high electric field by increasing the superimposing voltage, 2) increasing the discharge probability by successive superimposition in each discharge cycle. The experimental results showed that discharge locations in conventional dry-WEDM can be dispersed uniformly over the workpiece surface, and the discharge can successfully be moved to the vicinity of the point where high voltage is applied.