Journal of Materials Processing Tech.

293 (2021) 117092

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Materials Processing Tech.

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

The role of discharge plasma on molten pool dynamics in EDM

Xiaoming Yue a, b, c, Xiaodong Yang d, *
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
b
Key Laboratory of High-efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
c
Suzhou Institute of Shandong University, Suzhou, 215123, China
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Associate Editor: Jian Cao Each discharge in electrical discharge machining (EDM) generates a plasma with a temperature of several
thousands of degrees, which not only evaporates and melts the electrode material, but also applies forces on the
Keywords: molten pool. To determine the role of the discharge plasma on the molten pool dynamics, this study used high-
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) speed photography technology and the finite element method (FEM) to investigate the discharge process. The
Plasma
observation results of the discharge process without an external magnetic field demonstrate that the randomly
Discharge observation
moving plasma caused the movement of the molten pool, which can have an influence on the removal of the
External magnetic field
Molten pool movement molten material and the final crater topography. It is thought that the randomly moving plasma applied a moving
Material removal pressure and a moving shear force on the molten pool, causing its movement. The discharge process was
observed under an external transverse magnetic field, which indicated that under the action of the Lorentz force,
the plasma did not move randomly but moved along the direction of the Lorentz force. The molten pool flowed
along the trailing direction of the plasma, and large molten materials were removed from the molten pool along
the same direction. The transverse magnetic field influenced the removal of the molten material and the
movement of the molten pool by influencing the plasma which actually applied a pressure and a shear force on
the molten pool. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that under the action of the plasma pressure, the
molten material was extruded from the molten pool, and the bulge around the discharge crater was generated
gradually, forming a deep and bowl-shaped discharge crater with a static plasma and a shallower and larger
diameter discharge crater with a moving plasma.

1. Introduction
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a metal fabrication method
in which the designed shape of a workpiece is achieved through
continuous pulsed sparks between two electrodes, separated by a
dielectric (Kunieda, 2013). EDM technology can fabricate any conduc­
tive materials, regardless of their hardness, into complex parts without a
direct physical contact. Thus, owing to its excellent properties, EDM
technology has rapidly developed and expanded into a variety of pro­
cessing methods, like wire EDM (Chen et al., 2020), die-sinking EDM
(Kunieda et al., 1999), micro EDM (Lei et al., 2019), wire electro­
discharge grinding (WEDG) (Masuzawa et al., 1985), and electrical arc
machining (EAM) (Zhang et al., 2015) etc. These have become impor­
tant fabrication methods in the manufacturing industry for applications
such as mold making, automobiles, aerospace, and micromachine. In
every discharge process of EDM, after the dielectric breakdown, an
discharge plasma is generated that evaporates and melts the electrode
material. Thus, the plasma plays a key role in the material removal of
EDM.
Studies on the basic phenomena of the discharge plasma in EDM
have yielded massive new findings. Kojima et al. (2008) investigated the
temporal change and radial temperature distribution of plasma, and
measured the diameter of the arc plasma using an optical emission
spectroscopy. Kitamura and Kunieda (2014) used the optically trans­
parent and electrically conductive electrodes to investigate the expan­
sion process of the discharge plasma. Then, the heat source diameter was
calculated by the heat conduction analysis. Descoeudres et al. (2005)
investigated the imaging and spatially resolved optical emission spec­
troscopy of the plasma. Zhu et al. (2019) analyzed the evolution
behavior of the plasma in electrical arc machining by flushing air, and
revealed the effect of the air flow on the change in the plasma. Li et al.
(2020) investigated the influences of the tool electrode and dielectric on

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xdyang@hit.edu.cn (X. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2021.117092
Received 28 September 2020; Received in revised form 1 February 2021; Accepted 7 February 2021
Available online 11 February 2021
0924-0136/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
X. Yue and X. Yang
the plasma during the discharge process. Yue et al. (2018) showed that
the plasma generated a discharge reaction force during the discharge
process. The plasma-generated discharge reaction force was negligibly
small compared with the discharge reaction force caused by bubbles
(Kunieda et al., 2003). However, considering that the discharge reaction
force caused by the plasma acted directly on a very small molten pool,
the pressure applied by the plasma acting on the molten pool is not
negligible, which can influence on the molten pool movement. The
above mentioned studies show that at present, most of the research on
plasma has focused on the plasma itself. Recently, Li and Yang (2020)
investigated the movement arc plasma and its effect on crater topog­
raphy. They found that a larger discharge current and narrower gap
distance caused more intense arc plasma movement, thus influencing
the crater topography. Changing the shape of the electrode end could
influence the plasma movement and shape. The movement of plasma
was restricted when the discharge occurred in oil compared with
discharge in air. However, in the above study, only the final topography
of the discharge crater influenced by the plasma was discussed. The
influence of the plasma on the molten pool as well as its influencing
mechanism were not investigated and clarified. Because the material
removal and the final crater topography have a direct relationship with
the molten pool, revealing the influencing mechanism of the plasma on
the molten pool is indeed critical.
Many researchers have used numerical simulation methods, such as
the molecular dynamics (MD) and finite element (FE) simulations, to
investigate the complex discharge process. Jithin et al. (2020) developed
the FE model to predict the topography in electrical discharge texturing
by considering the multi-discharge processes. In their simulation, a
Gaussian distribution of the heat flux was adopted. Salvati and Kor­
sunsky (2020) simplified the heat source as a smoothed rectangular
function in the simulation of wire EDM cutting. Then, the residual stress
generated in the discharge process was calculated accurately. Algodi
et al. (2018) built a two-dimensional (2D) transient FE model to predict
the thickness of the coating layer and microstructures in the electrical
discharge coating (EDC) process based on the heat transfer theory. Tang
and Yang (2018) used a thermal-hydraulic coupling model to simulate
the discharge crater formation in a single-pulse discharge process. In this
simulation, melting and solidification of the electrode material were
successfully conducted by using a Gaussian heat source. Yang et al.
(2011) investigated the material removal mechanism in EDM by MD
simulation, in which a circular heat source acted on electrode surface
and the velocity of atoms was determined by the heat source. The
structure evolution of the electrode material in both the crystalline
copper (Yue and Yang, 2017) and polycrystalline copper (Yue and Yang,
2019) were also investigated by using the MD simulation. Yue and Yang
(2020) conducted a 2D submicrometer-scale MD simulation of a
discharge crater in a single-pulse discharge process using a
two-temperature model, in which both the lattice vibration and free
electrons were considered in the heat conduction. However, in the above
simulations of EDM, no matter the MD simulation or FE simulation, the
plasma was generally simplified as a Gaussian heat source or other heat
source models, and only the heat effect of the plasma on the electrode
material was considered in the heat source models. The forces acting on
the molten pool through the discharge plasma were not considered,
which may have an influence on the final crater topography.
It is common acknowledge that in every discharge of EDM, a large
amount of molten material in the molten pool is not removed, but recasts
on the surface of the workpiece, forming a recast layer (Zhang et al.,
2014) that leads to a low material removal rate and thick recast layer in
EDM. The above issue has become the biggest obstacle to the further
development and wide application of EDM. Therefore, it is very
important to investigate and reveal the influence of the plasma on the
movement of the molten pool during EDM.
To reveal the influencing mechanism of the discharge plasma on the
movement of molten pool, high-speed photography technology and the
FE method were used to investigate the plasma forces acting on the
2
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
molten pool. First, the discharge plasma and the molten pool were
observed directly in a single-pulse discharge process without and with
an external magnetic field to investigate the movement of molten pool
during the discharge process. Then, the above observation results were
combined with previous research results to clarify the relationship be­
tween the movements of the molten pool and plasma. Finally, a
discharge process with a moving Gaussian heat source was implemented
by the FE method to further investigate the influence of a moving plasma
on the movement of the molten pool.
2. Observation of discharge process without the external
magnetic field
In this section, the movements of the discharge plasma were inves­
tigated to determine the influencing mechanism of the discharge plasma
on the movement of the molten pool. Then, the movement of the molten
pool was observed using high-speed photography equipment.
2.1. Experimental setups and details
The experimental investigation of the discharge process in EDM is
difficult because each discharge process is transitory. However, the
advances in high-speed photography has made it possible to use a high-
speed camera to directly observe the discharge process. Therefore, in
this study, advanced observation equipment was built to investigate the
discharge process, as shown in Fig. 1. The observation equipment con­
sists of a high-speed camera (1-high-speed camera), a computer (2-
computer), a laser illumination system (3-laser illumination, 4-bandpass
filter), a discharge gap adjustment system (5-tool electrode, 6-work­
piece, 7-XYZ platform), a single-pulse power system (8-current
limiting resistance, 9-single pulse power), and a discharge detection
system (10-current sensor, 11-oscilloscope). With this equipment, a
single-pulse discharge can be generated by a single-pulse power system.
The discharge current can be detected by a discharge detection system to
produce a trigger signal. Once the camera receives the trigger signal, it
stores the video of the discharge process. This experimental equipment
can not only observe the discharge plasma directly, but also observe the
molten pool without the interference of bright plasma during the
discharge process. The working principle of this equipment is described
in our previous study (Yue and Yang, 2020).
The experimental conditions used in the discharge observation are
listed in Table 1. To ignite the discharge easily, a tiny amount of EDM oil
mixed with the silicon powder was placed in the gap between the tool
electrode and workpiece. The observation result demonstrated that the
oil can be completely blown away within 50 μs after the discharge
happened. Thus, the discharge processes (>50 μs) shown in this study
actually occurred in the air. It should be noted that limited by the frame
rate and resolution of the high-speed camera, in these observation ex­
periments, much longer discharge time was used so that the discharge
phenomena, such as the removed debris, were much easier to be
observed.
2.2. Observation of discharge plasma
Fig. 2 shows the observed discharge without an external magnetic
field. In the figure, the bright white area between the tool electrode and
workpiece was approximately assumed to be the plasma, which shows
that the plasma has a lantern shape. The diameter of the plasma in
contact with both the tool electrode and workpiece was the smallest,
while the diameter of the middle of the plasma was the largest, as in t = 7
μs. The above phenomenon can be explained as follows. In the discharge
process, the materials around the discharge spot of the tool electrode
and workpiece were evaporated by the discharge plasma at a tempera­
ture above 5000 K. Then, both the tool electrode and workpiece emitted
large amounts of materials into the gap in the form of metal vapor jets
(Yue et al., 2018). These metal vapor jets emitted from the tool electrode
X. Yue and X. Yang
Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental observation equipment (1-high-speed camera, 2-computer, 3-laser illumination, 4-bandpass filter, 5- tool electrode, 6-workpiece,
7-XYZ platform, 8-current limiting resistance, 9-single pulse power, 10-current sensor, 11-oscilloscope).
Table 1
Discharge conditions.
Open voltage 110 V
Discharge current 15 A
Initial discharge gap 20− 30 μm
Tool electrode (-) Copper
Workpiece (+) Steel
Discharge time 3 ms
and workpiece collided in the gap, changing their flight direction and
generating the flow field (Yue and Yang, 2020). The plasma presented a
lantern shape under the action of the above flow field.
As seen in Fig. 2, it was also found that the plasma moved back and
forth on both sides of the central axis of the tool electrode during the
discharge process. However, the figure only showed the plane move­
ment of the plasma. To reveal the spatial movement of the plasma, the
discharge was observed from above, as shown in Fig. 3(a). From the
observations, it was found that although the central region of the plasma
was hidden by the tool electrode, the plasma edge region could be
partially observed, which can reflect the spatial movement of the
plasma. Fig. 3 shows that during the discharge process, the plasma
moved randomly in a circle along the tip of the cylindrical tool electrode
and around the central axis of the tool electrode. These results demon­
strate that the plasma did not remain stationary but moved randomly
during the discharge process. From these captured frames, the moving
speed of the plasma was calculated as 50–120 m/s, which is so high that
the plasma was deformed and its contours were blurred, as seen in Fig. 2
at t = 126 μs. The influence of moving plasma on the molten pool during
the discharge process is discussed in the next section.
2.3. Observation of molten pool
Fig. 4 shows the discharge observed by filtering the plasma using the
experimental device in Fig. 1. The molten pool was clearly shown
without the interference from the plasma. From the figure, it can be seen
that during the discharge process, the liquid level of the molten pool
changed as the discharge time elapsed. Some molten material in the
molten pool was higher than the workpiece surface, which can be
defined as a bulge. Specifically, the molten pool can either bulge to form
a swell, as in t = 540 μs, or sink to form a depression, as in t = 603 μs. The
bulge material also moved randomly along the edge of the molten pool
during the entire discharge process. The bulge material sometimes
moved to the far right of the molten pool, as in t = 603 μs, or to the front
3
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
of the molten pool, as in t = 936 μs. The motion characteristics of the
molten pool were similar to those of the plasma. The above results
demonstrate that the molten pool did not remain stationary but moved
randomly during the discharge process.
The movement of the molten pool was essentially caused by the
forces acting on it. This phenomenon can be explained by our previous
research as follows (Yue et al., 2018). After the discharge was ignited,
both the anode and cathode emitted the metal vapor jets into the gap.
These metal vapor jets then collided in the gap, as shown in Fig. 5(a).
The interaction between the jets in the gap can generate not only a
discharge reaction force that directly acts on the molten pool in the form
of pressure, but also a kind of shear force that acts on the molten pool, as
shown in Fig. 5(b); this has been verified by our previous study (Yue
et al., 2018). In addition, a moving plasma can apply a moving pressure
and shear force on the molten pool finally, causing its movement. It can
also be concluded that the movement of the molten pool has an influence
on the removal of molten material and the final topography of the
discharge crater. For example, as shown in Fig. 4 at t = 603 μs, a bulky
molten material A was thrown out of the molten pool because of the
movement of the molten pool, demonstrating that the movement of the
molten pool contributed to the removal of molten material. In addition,
3D topography of discharge craters, which were measured by Confocal
Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM), demonstrates that even if the dis­
charges were ignited under exactly the same experimental conditions
shown in Table 1 with the discharge time of 1 ms, the final discharge
craters formed have different topographies, such as a (a) flat bottom, (b)
spherical bottom, (c) raised bottom, and (d) sloping bottom, as shown in
Fig. 6.
In Fig. 4, blocked by the square workpiece, most of the molten pool
can’t be displayed easily. Thus, in order to show the molten pool on a
larger scale, a feeler gauge was also used as the workpiece to observe the
discharge process, as shown in Fig. 7(a). Because the thickness of the
feeler gauge was just 90 μm, the movement of the molten material can be
shown easily and clearly. Fig. 7(b) shows that at t = 294 μs, the molten
pool was flat; at t = 364 μs, the molten pool was raised. At t = 728 μs, the
raised molten pool was pressed and a large amount of molten material
was squeezed out, as seen at t = 763 μs and t = 791 μs. The discharge
observed on the feeler gauge proved that the plasma applied a force on
the molten pool, resulting in its movement. A discharge was ignited at
the edge of the workpiece, as shown in Fig. 8(a), from which the
sectional observation of the molten pool could be presented. In Fig. 8(b),
a bowl-shaped molten pool was formed under the action of the plasma.
The boundaries of the molten pool and solid substrate was clearly
X. Yue and X. Yang
Fig. 2. Observation of plasma in the discharge process from front.
distinguished, from which the thickness of the molten material in the
molten pool can be measured. It should be noted that although the
boundary conditions of the heat and fluid are different among Fig. 4,
Figs. 7 and 8, the influencing mechanism of the discharge plasma on the
movement will not change along with the the boundary conditions of the
heat and fluid. Thus, the influencing mechanism shown in Fig. 5 is still
available to Figs. 7 and 8.
3. Observation of discharge process under the external
transverse magnetic field
Heinz et al. (2011) and Govindan et al. (2013) investigated the
magnetic-field-assisted EDM. They found that the assisted magnetic field
can improve the material removal rate in a single-pulse discharge pro­
cess as well as influence the topography of the discharge crater.
Govindan et al. (2013) analyzed the Lorentz forces acting on the plasma.
Because the magnetic field can affect the plasma through the Lorentz
forces, it is reasonable to assume that the magnetic field can also affect
the molten pool through the plasma. Therefore, investigating the
discharge process by imposing an assisted magnetic field not only ver­
ifies the influencing mechanism of the discharge plasma on the move­
ment of the molten pool, as shown in Fig. 5, but also reveals the
influencing mechanism of the assisted magnetic field on the movement
of the molten pool. Thus, in this section, the discharge process with an
external transverse magnetic field is investigated. The discharge gap was
located in a transverse magnetic field, as shown in Fig. 9(a). The mag­
netic field intensity was approximately 0.1–0.5 T; the direction of the
magnetic field was horizontal.
4
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
Fig. 9 shows the observation of the discharge process without
filtering the plasma. The results indicate that the plasma has a comet
shape, which is totally different from that without an external magnetic
field (Fig. 2). The diameter of the plasma in contact with both electrodes
remained the smallest. However, the middle area of the plasma was
trailing because of the Lorentz force acting on the plasma. According to
the right-hand rule (i.e., raise the right hand and stick the thumb up,
point the index finger forward with the middle finger perpendicular to
the thumb and index finger, the thumb and index finger point toward the
velocity direction of the positively charged particles and the direction of
magnetic field B, respectively. The middle finger points toward the di­
rection of the Lorentz force F.), the direction of the Lorentz force is
consistent with the trailing direction of the plasma. Furthermore, it was
found that, unlike the discharge process in Figs. 2 and 3, the plasma
shown in Fig. 9 did not move randomly under the Lorentz force. The
diameter of the plasma was much larger than that without the external
magnetic field because it was stretched by the Lorentz force.
Fig. 9 shows that large bulky molten material was removed from the
molten pool (such as the trajectory A→B→C→D) during the discharge
process. This removed material flowed along the trailing direction of the
plasma. Fig. 10 shows the observation of the discharge process by
filtering the plasma. It was found that the molten pool was not located
under the tip but on the side of the tool electrode. During the entire
discharge process, the molten pool did not move randomly, but flowed
along the trailing direction of the plasma, as shown by the thick red
arrow. Compared with the discharge process without an external mag­
netic field, the removal of the molten material and the movement of the
molten pool under the external magnetic field showed a large difference.
X. Yue and X. Yang
Fig. 3. Observation of plasma in the discharge process from above, where (a) shows the observation schematic.
Thus, it can be concluded that the external magnetic field has an in­
fluence on the removal of the molten material and the movement of the
molten pool, which can be explained as follows. During the discharge
process with the external transverse magnetic field, the plasma moves
along a permanent rather than a random direction under the Lorentz
force, which generates the directional forces acting on the molten pool.
As a result, the removal of the molten material and the movement of the
molten pool have directionality.
4. Simulation of molten pool movement in the discharge process
To investigate the influence of the dynamic characteristics of the
plasma on the molten pool during the discharge process, a heat and fluid
flow model that considers the existence of both the liquid metal and
solid metal was used to describe the movement of the molten pool. First,
the discharge process with a static and moving plasma that did not apply
any pressure on the molten pool was simulated to analyze the temper­
ature distribution and movement of the molten pool. Then, the discharge
process with a static and moving plasma considering the pressure effect
was simulated to investigate the temperature distribution and move­
ment of the molten pool caused by the plasma motion.
5
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
4.1. Simulation method and details
4.1.1. Model description
Fig. 11 shows a schematic of the 2D simulation model. AD, BC, and
CD, denoted by Γ1 , Γ 2 , and Γ3 , are the boundaries of the gas and solid
metal. AB is the energy input boundary, where a Gaussian heat source q
(x, t) and the Gaussian pressure source P(x, t) were imposed. In the
discharge process, the material around the discharge spot was melted;
thus, the computational domain included a solid substrate, molten zone,
and mushy zone which were the interfaces between the solid and liquid.
The material properties used in the simulation are listed in Table 2.
To simplify the simulation, the following assumptions were made: ⅰ)
the material removed by melting and vaporization caused by the
discharge heat was ignored; ⅱ) the thermophysical properties of the
electrode material were assumed to be constant in both the liquid and
solid phases; ⅲ) the energy loss due to the evaporation was ignored; ⅳ)
Marangoni effect was neglected in this study; and ⅴ) only the plasma
pressure and gravity were considered while other external forces acting
on the molten pool were neglected.
4.1.2. Gaussian heat source
A Gaussian heat source with a moving central axis O’ O was used to
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 4. Observation of a molten pool with discharge on a flat surface of the workpiece.
(a) Schematic of jet interaction (b) Schematic of forces on the molten pool.

Fig. 5. Schematic of influencing mechanism of plasma in the molten pool.

6
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 6. 3D topography of discharge craters with (a) flat bottom, (b) spherical bottom, (c) raised bottom, (d) and sloping bottom.

Fig. 7. Observation of of molten pool with discharge on the feeler gauge, where (a) shows the observation schematic.

7
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 8. Sectional observation of molten pool with discharge at the edge of workpiece, where (a) shows the observation schematic.

Fig. 9. Observation of plasma movement with external transverse magnetic field, where (a) shows observation schematic under external magnetic field.

simulate the moving heat flux, as shown in Fig. 11. Its theoretical q(r, t) is the heat flux density at radius r and time t, qm (t) is the heat flux
equation is expressed as density at the center of the heat source at time t, k = 4.5 is the heat
′

′ source concentration factor, d(t) is the diameter of the heat source,

− k r2
q(r, t) = qm (t)exp( 2 / ) (1) which is described by Eq. (3), and w(t) is the position of the central axis
d (t) 4
O’ O of the heat source, which is shown in Fig. 12.
In the actual discharge process, after the dielectric breakdown, the
r(x, t) = x − w(t) (2)
discharge plasma first expanded within several microseconds until it
where r(x, t) is the distance from the center axis O’ O of the heat source, reached the largest diameter. Then, the diameter remained constant, but

8
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 10. Observation of molten pool movement with external transverse magnetic field.

Table 2
Material properties used in the simulation (Courtois et al., 2013).
Name Symbol Value

Thermal conductivity of solid/liquid (W/m K) ks/kl 41/44

Density of solid/liquid (kg/m3) ρs/ρl 7900/6900
Specific heat of solid/liquid (J/kg K) Cps/Cpl 460/601
Dynamic viscosity of liquid (Pa⋅s) μl 0.001
Latent heat of fusion (J/kg) Lf 2.54 × 105
Latent heat of vaporization Lv 6.1 × 106
Liquidus temperature (K) Tl 1808
Solidus temperature (K) Ts 1788
Melting temperature (K) Tm (Tl +Ts)/2
Vaporization temperature (K) Tv 3134
Surface tension coefficient (N/m) γ 0.15
Coefficients in Darcy’s law C/b 1 × 106/1 × 10− 3

where t is the discharge time, d0 = 20 μm is the initial diameter of the

Fig. 11. Schematic of 2D simulation model. heat source at t = 0 μs, and dmax = 200 μm is the terminal diameter of the
heat source at t = 100 μs.
the plasma moved randomly. In this simulation, Eq. (3) was used to In Eq. (1), qm (t) can be obtained through the Eqs. (4) and (5), which
describe the diameter change of the plasma. To study the influence of a can be described as follows:
moving plasma on the movement of the molten pool, the central axis The total discharge power Q(t) can be calculated as
O’ O of the heat source changed along with the discharge time. As shown ∫ d(t)/2
in Fig. 12, the central axis O’ O of the heat source remained constant Q(t) = ηue (t)ie (t) = q(r, t)2πrdr (4)
within 10 μs. Then, it moved along the x-axis with the motion cycle and 0

motion range of 20 μs and 100 μm, respectively.

here, η = 0.4 is the energy distribution ratio to the anode according to
{
d0 + (dmax − d0 ) ∗ t/3 0 ≤ t ≤ 3 μs the research by Xia et al (1996), ue (t) = 20 V is the discharge sustaining
d(t) = (3)
dmax 3 μs ≤ t ≤ 100 μs voltage, and i(t) = 15 A is the discharge current.
According to the Eq. (4), the heat flux density qm (t) can be described

9
X. Yue and X. Yang
Fig. 12. Moving law of central axis O‵O of the heat source.
as
4.57ηue (t)ie (t)
qm (t) = / (5)
πd2 (t) 4
4.1.3. Gaussian pressure source
As shown in Fig. 5, the plasma applied the discharge reaction force
and shear force on the molten pool during the discharge process. We
investigated the discharge reaction force and shear force caused by a
single-pulse discharge with an air dielectric (Yue et al., 2018). The re­
sults show that the discharge reaction force caused by plasma was in the
millinewton level with a discharge current of 15 A and discharge time of
100 μs. Considering that the above discharge reaction force acted on a
small molten pool directly, the pressure applied on the molten pool
could be non-negligible. However, the approximate value of the shear
force caused by the plasma remains unknown; thus, only the discharge
reaction force was considered in this simulation; the shear force was
ignored for simplicity.
In this simulation, the discharge reaction force caused by the plasma
was simplified as a Gaussian pressure source with a time-dependent
central axis w(t) to imitate a moving plasma. Its theoretical equation is
expressed as
P(x, t) = Pm (t)exp(−
r2
) (6)
2σ2
where r is the distance from the central axis O’ O of the pressure source,
which is also described by Eq. (2), P(r, t) is the pressure at radius r and
time t, Pm (t) = 1 × 105 Pa is the pressure at the center of the pressure
source at time t, and σ = 20 μm is the standard deviation.
4.1.4. Basic governing equations
The conservation equations of energy, mass and momentum equa­
tions, given by Eqs. (7), (8), and (9), respectively, can be used to describe
the heat, mass transfer, and fluid flow. To handle the solid/liquid
interface, which is the mushy zone, the Darcy damping force was
introduced in the momentum equation (Ki et al., 2002, 2005). This term
in the momentum equation is dependent on the liquid fraction fl and is
active only if the temperature is below the melting point, which is given
by Eq. (10). The solid can then be viewed as an extremely viscous fluid.
∂T
ρC p + ρCp u∇T = ∇ • (k∇T) + q(x, t) (7)
∂t
∇•u=0 (8)
∂u
ρ + ρ(u • ∇)u = ∇ • [− pI + μ(∇u + (∇u)T )] + Fg + FD + Fst + P (9)
∂t
where ρ is the density, Cp is the specific heat capacity at a constant
10
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
pressure, T is the absolute temperature, u is the velocity vector, k is the
thermal conductivity, p is the pressure, q(x, t) is the Guassian heat
source, I is the identity matrix, μ is the fluid’s dynamic viscosity, Fg is the
gravity, FD is the Darcy force given by Eq. (9), Fst is the surface tension,
and P is the Gaussian pressure source.
(1 − f1 )2
FD = − C( 3 )u (10)
f1 + b
⎧
⎪ 0 for T < Ts
⎪
⎪
⎨T− T
(11)
l
fl = for Ts < T < Tl
⎪
⎪ Tl − Ts
⎪
⎩
1 for T > Tl
where C is a constant representing the mushy zone topography, b is a
parameter to avoid the division by zero, f1 is the liquid fraction, Ts is the
liquidus temperature, and Tl is the solidus temperature.
4.2. Simulation results
Figs. 13 and 14 show the temperature distribution of the electrode
material in the discharge process with a static and moving plasma,
respectively. The pressure effect of the discharge plasma and the ma­
terial removal caused by melting and evaporation were neglected. The
black line represented by A is the temperature contour of 1788 K, which
can be seen as the boundary of the molten pool and the solid substrate.
From the figures, it was found that after the discharge was ignited,
owing to the continuous input of discharge heat, the temperature of the
electrode material around the discharge spot increased, and the molten
pool region expanded. The surface of the molten pool remained un­
changed during the entire discharge process, which shows that in the
absence of a plasma force, the molten pool did not move only under the
action of the gravity. In particular, in the discharge process with a static
discharge plasma, the temperature distribution was symmetrical,
forming a deep and bowl-shaped molten pool, as shown in Fig. 13.
However, in the discharge process with a moving discharge plasma, the
temperature distribution changed along with the plasma movement,
generating a shallower molten pool with larger diameter, as shown in
Fig. 14. The simulation results also demonstrate that the movement
characteristics of the discharge plasma influenced the temperature dis­
tribution of the electrode material in the discharge process.
Fig. 15 shows the simulation of the discharge process with a static
plasma that considers the pressure effect of the discharge plasma. The
black line represented by A is the boundary between the molten pool and
solid substrate. In this simulation, the material removal caused by
melting and evaporation was ignored. From the figure, it was found that
because of the pressure applied by the plasma, molten material was
extruded from the molten pool, and the bulge (i.e., the material above
the upper surface of the electrode) around the discharge crater was
generated gradually, forming a deep and symmetrical discharge crater.
In the discharge process with a moving plasma considering the pressure
effect of the discharge plasma, as shown in Fig. 16, the temperature
distribution and shape of the discharge crater were symmetrical only
within 10 μs. As the discharge time increased, both the heat source and
pressure source started moving along the upper surface of the electrode
with a motion cycle and motion range of 20 μs and 100 μm, respectively.
As a result, the temperature distribution of the electrode material
changed with the movement of the heat source and was asymmetric. The
range of both the temperature rise and the molten pool increased with
the movement of the heat source. Moreover, it can be seen that under the
action of a moving pressure source, the molten material in the molten
pool moved. The bulge around the discharge crater was shaken left and
right by a large magnitude, while the liquid level of the molten pool
moved up and down slightly. The diameter of the molten pool increased
more quickly than the depth of the molten pool. The bulge also increased
with the increase in the molten pool diameter. At the end of the
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 13. Temperature distribution of electrode material in the discharge process with a static plasma neglecting pressure effect.

Fig. 14. Temperature distribution of electrode material in the discharge process with a moving plasma neglecting pressure effect.

Fig. 15. Temperature distribution of electrode material in the discharge process with a static plasma considering pressure effect.

11
X. Yue and X. Yang Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092

Fig. 16. Temperature distribution of electrode material in the discharge process with a moving plasma considering pressure effect.

Fig. 17. Velocity distribution of electrode material in the discharge process with a moving plasma considering pressure effect (black arrows represent the veloc­
ity vector).

12
X. Yue and X. Yang
discharge, the diameter and depth of the discharge crater at t = 100 μs
were 226 μm and 18 μm, respectively, and the shape of the discharge
crater was asymmetric. Finally, a shallower discharge crater with larger
diameter was formed. The changing laws of temperature distribution
and molten pool movement were consistent with the moving law of the
plasma.
To reveal the dynamic characteristics of the molten material during
the discharge process, the transient velocity field of the electrode ma­
terial was investigated. Fig. 17 shows the velocity distribution of the
electrode material in a single-pulse discharge simulation (black arrows
represent the velocity vector with modulus > 0.1 m/s). The velocity
distribution was also displayed on the electrode material by the
nephogram. The red line represented by A is the temperature contour of
1788 K, above which is the molten pool. From the figure, it can be seen
that after the discharge was ignited, the molten pool material had the
highest removal velocity. The velocity distribution of the electrode
material was symmetrical within 10 μs, as shown by t = 10 μs, because it
was assumed that the plasma did not move during this stage. After the
heat source and the pressure source started moving along the upper
surface of the electrode, the velocity distribution of the electrode ma­
terial in the molten pool changed constantly as the discharge time
increased. Specifically, the material in the region as the plasma arrived
had a much higher removal velocity than the material in other regions,
as shown by t = 20 μs. Furthermore, it was found that the bulge material
in the molten pool had a higher removal velocity than the material in
other regions of the molten pool. The reason is because it is easier for the
molten material to move outward under the pressure of the discharge
plasma. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pressure applied by the
plasma has an influence on the movement of the molten pool during the
discharge process. In the study by Govindan et al. (2013), a pulsating
magnetic field was applied using three electromagnets arranged in a
triangular configuration, restricting the random movement of the
discharge plasma through the Lorentz force. Their results verified that
the magnetic field assistance increased the depth and reduced the crater
diameter. Their experimental results were consistent with the above
simulation results, which further supports the conclusions of the present
study.
5. Conclusions
This study investigated the influence of the discharge plasma on the
movement of the molten pool through high-speed photography tech­
nology and the FE method. The research results are summarized below.
(1) In the discharge process without an external transverse magnetic
field, the plasma did not remain stationary but moved randomly. A
moving plasma can apply a moving pressure and shear force on the
molten pool, causing its movement. The movement of the molten pool
can have an influence on the removal of the molten material and the
final morphology of the discharge crater.
(2) In the discharge process with an external transverse magnetic
field, under the action of the Lorentz force, the plasma had a comet
shape. The plasma did not move randomly but moved along the direc­
tion of the Lorentz force. The molten pool flowed along the trailing di­
rection of the plasma, and large bulky molten materials were removed
from the molten pool along this direction. The transverse magnetic field
affected the plasma, which in turn influenced the removal of the molten
material and the movement of the molten pool.
(3) The simulation results demonstrate that in the absence of a
plasma force, the surface of the molten pool did not move during the
entire discharge process only under the action of the gravity. Under the
action of plasma pressure, the molten material was extruded from the
molten pool, and the bulge around the discharge crater was generated
gradually, forming a deep and bowl-shaped discharge crater with a static
plasma, and a shallow and larger diameter discharge crater with a
moving plasma. It was also found that under the action of plasma
pressure, the bulge material in the molten pool had a much higher
13
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
removal velocity than the material in other regions of the molten pool.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Xiaoming Yue: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation,
Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft. Xiaodong Yang:
Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project adminis­
tration, Supervision, Resources, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with
other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our
work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or
kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as
influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript
entitled.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Youth Program, Grant No. 51905311) and (Gen­
eral Program, Grant No. 51875133), China Postdoctoral Science Foun­
dation (2020M672052), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu
Province (BK20190203).
References
Algodi, S.J., Clare, A.T., Brown, P.D., 2018. Modelling of single spark interactions during
electrical discharge coating. J. Mater. Process Tech. 252, 760–772.
Chen, S.T., Huang, L.W., Kuo, J.P., Pai, T.C., 2020. Development of an original
electromagnetic damping-controlled horizontal cutting mechanism for microwire-
EDM. J. Mater. Process Tech. 278, 116538.
Courtois, M., Carin, M., Le Masson, P., Gaied, S., Balabane, M., 2013. A new approach to
compute multi-reflections of laser beam in a keyhole for heat transfer and fluid flow
modelling in laser welding. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 46, 505350.
Descoeudres, A., Hollenstein, C., Walder, G., Perez, R., 2005. Time-resolved imaging and
spatially-resolved spectroscopy of electrical discharge machining plasma. J. Phys. D
Appl. Phys. 38, 4066–4073.
Govindan, P., Gupta, A., Joshi, S.S., Malshe, A., Rajurkar, K.P., 2013. Single-spark
analysis of removal phenomenon in magnetic field assisted dry EDM. J. Mater.
Process Tech. 213, 1048–1058.
Heinz, K., Kapoor, S.G., DeVor, R.E., Surla, V., 2011. An investigation of magnetic-field-
Assisted material removal in Micro-EDM for nonmagnetic materials. J. Manuf. Sci. E-
T ASME 133, 021002.
Jithin, S., Raut, A., Bhandarkar, U.V., Joshi, S.S., 2020. Finite element model for
topography prediction of electrical discharge textured surfaces considering multi-
discharge phenomenon. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 177, 105604.
Ki, H., Mohanty, P.S., Mazumder, J., 2002. Modeling of laser keyhole welding: part I.
Mathematical modeling, numerical methodology, role of recoil pressure, multiple
reflections, and free surface evolution. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 33, 1817–1830.
Ki, H., Mohanty, P.S., Mazumder, J., 2005. A numerical method for multiphase
incompressible thermal flows with solid-liquid and liquid-vapor phase
transformations. Numer. Heat Tr. B-Fund. 48, 125–145.
Kitamura, T., Kunieda, M., 2014. Clarification of EDM gap phenomena using transparent
electrodes. CIRP Ann.-Manuf. Technol. 63, 213–216.
Kojima, A., Natsu, W., Kunieda, M., 2008. Spectroscopic measurement of arc plasma
diameter in EDM. CIRP Ann.-Manuf. Technol. 57, 203–207.
Kunieda, M., 2013. Electrical discharge machining processes. In: Nee, A. (Ed.), Handbook
of Manufacturing Engineering and Technology. Springer, London, London, pp. 1–26.
Kunieda, M., Kowaguchi, W., Takita, T., 1999. Reverse simulation of die-sinking EDM.
CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol. 48, 115–118.
Kunieda, M., Tohi, M., Ohsako, Y., 2003. Reaction forces observed in pulse discharges of
EDM. Int. J. Electr. Mach. 8, 51–55.
Lei, J.G., Wu, X.Y., Wang, Z.L., Xu, B., Zhu, L.K., Wu, W., 2019. Electrical discharge
machining of micro grooves using laminated disc electrodes made of cu and sn foils.
J. Mater. Process Tech. 271, 455–462.
Li, Q., Yang, X.D., 2020. Study on arc plasma movement and its effect on crater
topography during single-pulse discharge in EDM. Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 106,
5033–5047.
Li, X.H., Wei, D.B., Li, Q., Yang, X.D., 2020. Study on effects of electrode material and
dielectric medium on arc plasma in electrical discharge machining. Int. J. Adv.
Manuf. Tech. 107, 4403–4413.
Masuzawa, T., Fujino, M., Kobayashi, K., Suzuki, T., Kinoshita, N., 1985. Wire electro-
discharge grinding for micro-machining. CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol. 34, 431–434.
X. Yue and X. Yang
Salvati, E., Korsunsky, A.M., 2020. Micro-scale measurement & FEM modelling of
residual stresses in AA6082-T6 Al alloy generated by wire EDM cutting. J. Mater.
Process Tech. 275, 116373.
Tang, J.J., Yang, X.D., 2018. Simulation investigation of thermal phase transformation
and residual stress in single pulse EDM of Ti-6Al-4V. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 51,
135308.
Xia, H., Kunieda, M., Nishiwaki, N., 1996. Removal amount difference between anode
and cathode in EDM process. Int. J. Electr. Mach. 1, 45–52.
Yang, X.D., Guo, J.W., Chen, X.F., Kunieda, M., 2011. Molecular dynamics simulation of
the material removal mechanism in micro-EDM. Precis. Eng. 35, 51–57.
Yue, X.M., Yang, X.D., 2017. Molecular dynamics simulation of material removal process
and crystal structure evolution in EDM with discharge on different crystal planes.
Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 92, 3155–3165.
Yue, X.M., Yang, X.D., 2019. Molecular dynamics simulation of machining properties of
polycrystalline copper in electrical discharge machining. P I Mech. Eng. B-J. Eng.
233, 371–380.
14
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 293 (2021) 117092
Yue, X.M., Yang, X.D., 2020. Molecular dynamics simulation of material removal process
and mechanism of EDM using a two-temperature model. Appl. Surf. Sci. 528,
147009.
Yue, X.M., Yang, X.D., Kunieda, M., 2018. Influence of metal vapor jets from tool
electrode on material removal of workpiece in EDM. Precis. Eng. 53, 278–288.
Zhang, Y.Z., Liu, Y.H., Shen, Y., Ji, R.J., Li, Z., Zheng, C., 2014. Investigation on the
influence of the dielectrics on the material removal characteristics of EDM. J. Mater.
Process Tech. 214, 1052–1061.
Zhang, M., Zhang, Q.H., Wang, H.J., Liu, G.W., Guo, T.D., 2015. Research on a single-
pulse discharge to discriminate EDM and EAM based on the plasma tunnel and crater
geometry. J. Mater. Process Tech. 219, 248–256.
Zhu, Y., Gu, L., Farhadi, A., He, G., Zhao, W., 2019. Observation and analyzation of
plasma channel evolution behavior in air flushing electrical arc machining. Int. J.
Adv. Manuf. Technol. 100, 3127–3138.