ISSN 2347 - 7911

International Journal for Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management

Available online at: www.ijiesm.com Volume 6, Issue 2, February 2018

Review Article On Different Types Of EDM And Its Performance Parameter:

Micro EDM
Naveen Gaurav S.P.Asthana Virendra Singh
Research Scholar M.Tech ME Professor Dept. of ME 4i Lab Laboratory
BBDNITM ,Lko(India) BBDNITM ,Lko(India) IIT, Kanpur (India)
naveen.gaurav111@gmail.com sp.asthana2010@gmail.c om singhv@iitk.ac.in

ABSTRACT:

Wire electric discharge machining is becoming increasingly

important in recent micro and macro manufacturing as it
becomes very versatile. Because multi axis CNC function–
WEDM, can be performed machining of intricate and miniature
parts, hard –to-cut materials which is not easily cut by
conventional machining. WEDM process is a time varying and
also time taking, highly complex and stochastic process. The
workpiece which machined by WEDM mostly depends on
thermal conductivity, melting temperature and electrical
resistivity of the material. In WEDM, thousands of sparks
generated between wire electrode and workpiece in the presence
of a flood of dielectric fluid with lubricant which improve the
efficiency of machine. The process output of WEDM is affected
by large no of input process parameters. Therefore, appropriate
selection of input variable for micro wire EDM process depends
heavily and past experiences of the operator and appropriate
input process parameters which is selected by operator, improve
the machining operation and output. This paper focus on
different types of EDM operation and provides an important
review on it. A brief discussion is also done on micro electric
discharge machining and its responses. In this paper we
concluded review of workpiece, different types of EDM and its
performance parameter.
KEYWORD: EDM, WEDM, micro-EDM, MRR ,
Surface roughness, workpiece material.
2. DIFFERENT TYPES OF EDM AND ITS
MACHINIG RESPOSE
2.1 EDM And Its Peformamce Parametres:-
The electrical discharge machining is most widely and
extensive process used in production industries because of its
ability to machine very hard material of conductive in nature
.material having high strength, higher stiffness better fatigue
characteristic generally machine by EDM because of its
hardness, which is not easily machined by conventional
machining.[3,4] Therefore these material which is machined
by EDM, used in aerospace, automobile, medical application,
consumer electronics and use in making mould and dies. For
precise surface finish, MRR and dimensional accuracy of
advanced material like ceramics, composites and super alloy,
EDM machining have been required much attention for
decades due to wide varieties of industry requirements and
gives best result in term of material removal rate, surface
roughness, electrode wear rate etc. at optimum process
parameter and dimensional accuracy also increases the cast
significant. [5-12]

I .INTRODUCTION
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is well known,
nontraditional and non-contact thermoelectric process which
erodes and melts the material from the workpiece by
thousands of discrete sparks between work and tool electrode
which is immersed in a liquid dielectric medium. During
machining, heat released by wire electrode in the form of
electrical discharges which melt and vaporize minute amounts
of the work material, which are then ejected and flushed away
by the dielectric and the work material due to discrete
discharge parameters affects the surface integrity [1, 2]. The
sparks occurring at high frequency continuously & effectively
remove the work piece material by melting & evaporation.
The dielectric acts as a deionizing medium between two
electrodes and its flow evacuates the re-solidification of metal
debris which are eroded during the machining from the
narrow gap assuring optimal conditions for spark generation.
In micro wire EDM metal is cut with a special metal wire
electrode of very diluted diameter that is programmed to
travel along a preprogrammed path.

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International Journal for Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management
Available online at: www.ijiesm.com Volume 6, Issue 2, February 2018

To improve EDM performance, the most important

issues is to develop a highly stable control system.
They focused on stabilizing EDM process by
establishing a new minimum variance and pole-
placement coupled control law. They developed
new control law which based on real time
estimation of EDM process model parameter for
adaptive control system which directly control
electrode discharging cycle for fast machining and
stabilizing EDM process. [13]

Figure no 3-process performance in EDM

Figure 2:- Die sinking EDM

2.2 Wedm And Its Performance Parametres: -
A WEDM is most widely used in aerospace, automobile, tool
and dies industries, medical equipment industries where
accuracy is primary important and surface finish is having
great importance. Wire electrical discharge machining has
also primary attribute to produce better edge quality and close
tolerances parts as compare to die sinking EDM and also has
ability to cut intricate parts .[16-17,18 ]
wire EDM generates spark discharges between a small wire
electrode (usually less than 0.5 mm diameter [19] ) and a
workpiece with deionized water as the dielectric medium and
erodes the workpiece to produce intricate two- and three
dimensional shapes according to a numerically controlled
(NC) path.[20, 21]
requires complex electrode, which have the same shape as the
desired cavity as shown in figure.2.The Wire cut EDM
machine eliminate the requirement for intricate shape
electrode that is presently indispensable.[24, 25] The wire-cut
EDM machine have proper composed of a workpiece contour
movement control unit (NC unit or copying unit), table for
workpiece mounting and wire driven unit which is generally
worked for accurately moving the wire at constant tension and
a unit which supplies a dielectric fluid (de-ionized water and
lubricant) and also have a machining power supply unit which
necessary for electrical energy to the wire electrode.[ 26 ]

The wire cut EDM classified on the basis of a very thin and
tense wire of 0.02 to 0.3 mm in diameter with or without
fabrication as an electrode and other machining arrangement
[22, 23]. Through thin wire, current flows and produces
electric discharge which is used to machine a workpiece like a
bandsaw by moving either the wire or workpiece. Erosion of
the metal of workpiece utilizing the phenomenon of spark
discharge that is exceedingly same as in conventional EDM.
During electric discharge, very high thermal energy and high
compressive waves are generated between wire and electrode.
The eminent feature of a moving wire is that some complexes
shape and complicated cutout can be easily machined without
using a forming electrode. However, conventional ram or die- Figure 4:- Die sinking EDM with complex shape electrode
sinking EDM.

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 ISSN 2347 - 7911
International Journal for Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management
Available online at: www.ijiesm.com Volume 6, Issue 2, February 2018

Make use of full potential of wire EDM machine tool, the continuous machining, preparing longer and thinner micro
machine should work on the optimum conditions. By using electrode from beginning or fabricating micro electrode. [42]
WEDM rough cut and trim cut can be performed on the work Also, changing the micro electrode re clamping. Thus, on
material. During rough cut poor surface finish and damaged machining with fabricated micro electrode can eliminate
surface are major problem but for high surface finish, trim cut damping error and improve the machining accuracy in micro
after rough cut gives best result. Therefore, trim cut can be EDM. [42] EDM electrodes can be produced in advance
used after rough cut for better surface finish and rough cut is
usually either by micro-milling, die sinking EDM or by
used for high MRR and high-speed machining. [21, 22, 27]
They show that pulse-on time and peak current are an reverse EDM [43-46]
important factor which affect the material removal rate and
surface roughness. In this experiment, they used surface
roughness methodology for optimization of process parameter
for surface roughness and material removal rate and finally
gives the conclusion on the basis experiment data, material
removal rate and surface roughness increases with increasing
pulse-on time and peak current for W-EDM using HSLA as
work piece [28]. They investigated the effect of process
parameter on cutting speed and dimensional accuracy for
WEDM of HSLA steel as work piece. They obtained, pulse on
time greatly affect the cutting speed and dimensional accuracy
of HSLA workpiece [29]. They reviewed the research activity
of optimization process parameter of WEDM and study has
also been carried out on control and monitoring of W-EDM
process and machining [30]. They used Taguchi experimental
designs to optimize the process parameter of wire EDM with
brass wire. Authors investigated the optimal process
parameter which minimized surface roughness and maximized
the MRR of workpiece. [31].

Wire electrical discharge machining was introduced as a very

precise, efficient and stable machining process with high
accuracy, which has ability to cut intricate shapes and
extremely tapered geometries [32, 33, 34]
Figure no.5- Classification of electrical discharge machining
2.3 Micro EDM And Its Performace Parametres: -
They focused on features of trim cut wire EDM machining
They study and optimized the machining parameter for which is micro scale machining ofNimonic80A[17].In this
Inconel-718 which is machined by micro milling EDM and present work, they analyzed the material removal rate, surface
roughness (Ra), wire wear ratio (WWR) and microstructure
obtaining the desired result by using Grey Taguchi method
analysis of Nimonic 80A.they found that pulse-on time is a
[35]. Micro EDM machining uses a very thin wire of diameter
major factor affecting MRR and surface roughness (Ra) in
between 20μm to 50μm as a electrode to cut a very narrow trim cut machining[22, 27,47, 48]. They also found that wire-
width of cut in the workpiece. The tense wire electrode is set off and interaction of pulse-on time and pulse-off time are
passed through the workpiece from a supply spool onto a take major factor affecting wire wear ratio. The result clearly
mechanism. indicates trim cut potential for high surface integrity compare
to rough machining. [16, 17].
Thousands of sparks generated between wire electrode and
workpiece in the presence of a flood of dielectric fluid.
Discharge current, pulse off time, pulse on time, discharge
capacitance, pulse frequency, wire feed, wire tension, voltage
and dielectric flushing condition are most important control
factors and parameters for wire EDM [33, 36, 37].Moreover,
micro EDM has a significant role in the micro scale industries,
very long and thin electrode can be used to cut workpiece
surface without any deviation or breakage to its non-contact
nature [33,38-41]

Micro EDM has disadvantage among which low discharge,

low material removal rate and electrode mean ratio for
precisions machining electrode wear can be compensated by
replacing the used electrode by new micro electrode. For Figure 6: - micro wire EDM
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International Journal for Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management
Available online at: www.ijiesm.com
3. SUMMARY
EDM process is one of the most advanced versatile
nontraditional machining operation which has the ability to
produce intricate three dimensional (3D) shaped peculiarly in
aerospace and automotive industries, manufacturing industries,
biotechnology industries and for manufacturing surgical
instruments and communication industries. It also has ability
to machine hard and brittle conductive materials. In die-
sinking EDM both tool and workpiece are fully immersed in
dielectric medium. This paper focuses an important revive on
different types EDM machine and its operation. In this paper,
A brief discussion is also done on the machining responses on
surface roughness, MRR and another factor.
4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION:
This revived paper discussed and summarized that:
(1) EDM has capability to cut intricate shape and produces
three-dimensional geometry with high performance.
(2) WEDM has capabilityto manufacture intricate shape and
complicated cutout can be easily machined without
using forming electrode. Extremely tapered geometries
have been done by using WEDM.
(3) Micro-EDM is evolved to fabricate micro- geometries
with high precision and high accuracy.
(4) Machining response such as material removal rate is
important to maximize with high performance at
optimum machining condition. Another most important
machining response such as surface roughness which has
been need to minimize.
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International Journal for Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management
Available online at: www.ijiesm.com Volume 6, Issue 2, February 2018

[50] K.H. Ho , S.T. Newman, S. Rahimifard, R.D.Allen , state

of the art in wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM), int.
J. of machine tools and manufacture,44 (2004) 1247-1259

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