Electro-Thermal Modeling of Temperature Distribution in Tool

Electrode during Micro EDM

Subrahmanyam A1 Nithinraj M2 Deepak G Dilip3 Jose Mathew4

Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Kerala, India
1 2 3 4
subrahmanyam4981@gmail.com ntihinraj.mekkona@gmail.com deepakgd1@yahoo.co.in josmat@nitc.ac.in

Abstract:- The micro EDM process is based on the thermoelectric energy created between work piece
(anode) and tool electrode (cathode) submerged in a dielectric fluid. When the work piece and the electrode
are separated by a specific small gap, a pulsed discharge (spark) occurs which removes material from the
work piece by melting and vaporization. Tool wear is one of the major problems faced in any machining
operation. The heat energy generated during the discharge in micro-EDM results in some material being
removed from the tool surface. The present study aims at conducting a thorough study on the effect of high
temperature generated on the tool electrode during the micro-EDM process. An electro-thermal model has
been developed to study the temperature distribution on different tool materials during the spark generation.
Different tool materials used for the analysis were tungsten, tungsten carbide and copper. Similar machining
conditions based on RC circuit were given for all the tool materials and temperature profiles generated were
analyzed. The obtained results were used to study the effect of the temperature generated on different tool
materials. This temperature distribution on the tool has been further extended to predict the material
removed during the process from the tool electrode.

Keywords:-Micro-EDM, temperature distribution, tungsten, tungsten carbide, copper, tool wear

1. INTRODUCTION and work piece [1]. The amount of energy varies

Micro-EDM is regarded as the one of the
most promising nontraditional micro machining
techniques due to its capability to machine high
complex 3D cavities and high aspect ratio holes.
The emerging miniaturization technologies are
clearly driving developments in micro scale
processes machines and material development.
EDM is an efficient machining process that
provides an alternative method to produce
microstructures with various advantages resulting
from its characteristics of non-contact and
thermal process. The fabrication of micro parts
requires minimization of the pulse energy
supplied into the gap between the work piece and
electrode. So pulse duration required for micro
EDM is in the range of few micro-seconds. Since
the RC pulse generator can generate such small
discharge energy simply by minimizing the
capacitance in the circuit it is widely applied in
micro-EDM.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Tool wear is a potential problem in
micro EDM. Tool wear depends on the amount of
energy absorbed by electrode. The energy
distribution between tool and work piece in
conventional EDM depends upon the process
parameters like pulse on time and peak current.
The amount of energy given to the work piece is
a function of pulse on time and current [1].The
amount of energy entering the work piece
depends upon the current, pulse duration, polarity
of electrodes and combinations of tool electrodes
from 6.1% to 26.82% [1]. Shao et al. found out
the pulse energy distribution ratio in micro EDM
process. The distribution of total energy of a
single spark into work piece, tool electrode and to
the dielectric fluid was determined based on the
dimensions of the crater developed in the work
piece and tool electrode. It was found that spark
energy distribution is 9.4% to the work piece and
3.6% to the tool electrode [2].
Some attempts had been made in order
to find the number of sparks and the fraction of
energy exchanged during the micro-EDM
[3,4,5].Hayakawa et al. [6] and Xia et al. [7]
estimated the fraction of energy distribution ratio
by comparing experimentally measured and
calculated temperature rise on copper tool
electrodes under common EDM conditions and
higher pulse durations, respectively. Based on
these experiments they found that fraction of
energy entering the electrode was significantly
more in the case of higher pulse durations.
The electrical energy generated during
the micro-EDM process is shared among work
piece, tool electrode and dielectric fluid. This
energy is distributed between large number of
phenomenon like ignition, main discharge,
melting, evaporation and expulsion [8,9,10].
Some experiments show that the fraction of
energy distribution in the electric discharge
machining process influences the material
removal rate (spark erosion of the work piece for
unit time), tool wear ratio, roughness of the EDM
surface and effective energy (energy that enters
the work piece that has to be machined
)[11,12,13]. It was proved that the amount of
energy effectively absorbed by the work piece is
varying from 6.5% to 17.7% depending on the
process parameters [14].
The aim of the present study is to
compare the different tool materials when
subjected to the high temperature generated as a
result of single spark in micro-EDM. A Finite
Element Model was created using ANSYS 15.0
software. Tool materials were compared based on
the crater radius, depth and maximum
temperature reached.

3. GOVERNING EQUATION

Since EDM is a thermal process the Fig.1 Axi-symmetric distribution of Gaussian

equation which govern the temperature heat flux.
distribution in the tool electrode is given by
Fourier’s law of heat conduction in cylindrical
coordinate system for axi-symmetric case. The
equation is given by

(1)

where T=temperature (K)

t =time (s)
=density (kg/m3)
K=thermal conductivity (W/m K)
r and Z denotes the coordinate axis.

Following assumptions were made during Fig. 2 Boundary conditions of the model
modeling using Finite Element Method using
ANSYS [15, 16]: The boundary conditions are given by:
1. The modeling is done by considering only
single spark.
2. Thermal properties of the tool electrode
material are temperature independent. (2)
3. Heat flux is assumed to be Gaussian in
nature. The region of influence of the Where r is the radius at any point on the top
discharge is assumed to be axi – symmetric surface of the work-piece, is the spark radius, h
in nature. is the heat transfer coefficient and is the
4. Only a fraction of total discharge energy is varying heat flux intensity which is given by the
dissipated as heat into the tool electrode, the equation
remaining energy is lost into the dielectric by
convection and radiation.
5. Thermal analysis is transient in nature. = (3)
6. Tool material is homogeneous and isotropic
and there are no residual stresses in tool
material before machining. Where is the amount of heat flux transferred to
7. Flushing efficiency is 100%. the work piece given by:
8. Material removal by hydrodynamic
(cavitation) effect is neglected. (4)

4. THERMAL MODEL
Where E is the energy transferred in the micro
The top surface of the work piece is EDM which is given by
subjected to two different boundary conditions
(5)
(Fig.1). The surfaces which are far from the heat
source are considered to be insulated.

Where C is the capacitance and V is the gap
voltage.
rs is the spark radius at the base of work surface
ton is the pulse on time
η is fraction of energy transferred to work-piece
and tool
For the FEM simulation the domain is considered
as plane of dimensions 100 µm×20 µm. This area
was discretized using PLANE 55(Thermal solid,
Quad 4node 55).
After FEM simulation temperature distribution in
three different tool materials are shown below.

Here for the purpose of modeling the values of

the various parameters are taken as follows:

Heat transfer coefficient (h) = 30W/m K

Ambient temperature (Ta) = 298K
C=0.01µF, V=80V, rs =2µm, ton =10 µs, η =0.4 for
work-piece and η=0.25 for the tool [1].

The faces which are far from the discharge are

considered to insulated, and that condition is
given by:

(6)
Fig.3. Temperature distribution in Copper
5. SIMULATIOIN electrode

Three tool materials are considered for

the Finite Element Analysis. These are tungsten,
tungsten carbide and copper. Properties of each of
the tool material are given in the following
table.1.

Table.1 Properties of tool material

Thermal Specific
Tool Density
conductivity Heat
material (kg/m3)
(W/m K) (J/kgK)

Copper
401 385 8960
(Cu) Fig.4. Temperature distribution in Tungsten
electrode
Tungsten
173 133 19300
(W)
Tungsten
Carbide 88 292 15630
(WC)

Properties of the work-piece (Ti-6Al-4V) material

are given in table. 2.

Table.2. Properties of Ti-6Al-4V

Thermal Specific
Density
conductivity Heat
(kg/m3)
(W/m K) (J/kg K)

6.4 500 4430

Fig.5. Temperature distribution in Tungsten
Carbide electrode
6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
From the Finite Element Analysis the
variation of temperature with radial and axial
distance was found out. It is shown in the
following figures.
Fig.6. Variation of Temperature with axial
distance
Fig.7. Variation of Temperature with radial
distance
Even though the same amount of heat
flux is applied with same boundary conditions to
all the three different tool materials, the
temperature variation is different in different tool
materials. This is because they are having
different properties like thermal conductivity,
specific heat etc.
The maximum temperature (2780 K)
was observed in tungsten carbide tool material
since its thermal conductivity (88 W/m K) is low
compared with tungsten (173 W/m K) and copper
(401W/m K). When thermal conductivity is less
there will be localization of heat and that leads to
increase in temperature. The maximum
temperature in copper is 860 K and in tungsten it
is 1587 K.
From the Fig.7 it is observed that the temperature
variation is Gaussian in nature. This is because of
the heat flux given to the tool material is
Gaussian heat flux which is having the maximum
value when r=0 and its value decreases as radius
increases.
When increasing discharge energy the
maximum temperature also increases. The size of
the crater also increases with increasing discharge
energy [16]. Simulation was performed for
copper electrode with three discharge energies by
keeping the capacitance (0.1µF) as constant and
changing the voltage by three levels 80V, 90V
and 115V. The following figures show the
variation of temperature along axial direction.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 8. Variation of temperature in axial direction
for three discharge energies.
Here it was assumed that the depth at
which the temperature reaches the melting
temperature is the crater depth [15].
The melting point of copper is 1357K. From the
fig.8. it was found that the increasing the
discharge energy increases the crater depth. The
values of the crater depth are 3µm, 4µm and 6µm
corresponding to gap voltage of 80V, 90V and
115V.
Radius of the crater also increases with
increase in discharge energy. The following
figure shows the variation of temperature along
the radial direction for three discharge energies.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.9. Variation of temperature along the radial
for three discharge energies
From the fig.9. it was found that the
increasing the discharge energy increases the
crater radius. The values of the crater radius are
3.5µm, 4.3µm and 6.8µm corresponding to gap
voltage of 80V, 90V and 115V at 0.1µF.
7. CONCLUSIONS
Electro thermal modeling using Finite
Element Analysis for micro-electric discharge
machining for single spark was done for three
different tool materials namely copper (Cu),
tungsten (W) and tungsten carbide (WC). It was
found that when same heat flux is applied under
similar boundary conditions for three materials,
maximum temperature was observed in tungsten
carbide followed by tungsten, copper. Minimum
temperature was observed in copper due its high
thermal conductivity. For a given tool material
when the discharge energy increases, depth and
radius of the crater increases.
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