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Machining.
Team members: Dan, Townsend
Today Dan and myself will cover five topics relate to EDM in hopes
that by the end you will all have a better understanding of this very
interesting nontraditional machining technology and why it is used in
many machine shops today.
We will be covering the following topics
• What is EDM?
• How does EDM work?
• What are the capabilities of EDM?
• What are the applications of EDM?
• What are the disadvantages of this process?
Introduction to EDM and what is
it?
HISTORY - The idea for EDM came from a man watching lightning
• In the late 1700s, Sir Joseph Priestly( the father of carbonated water) discovered this
phenomenon while observing the erosive effect of electric current on metal conductors.
• Shortly after World War II, the Lazerenko brothers of Russia announced their first electronic
erosion machine, and since then, it has been used in various industries, especially
aerospace, medical and micro engineering.
• The advent of computer-aided EDM in the early seventies helped it gain significance in
manufacturing processes.
• In 1982, it was introduced into dentistry by Gunter Rubeling to fabricate precision
attachments. Rubeling introduced the SAE Secotec Spark Erosion
technique to implant dentistry in the early nineties.
• Later, in the same year, Windeler received a patent for improving the fit of cast restorations
using EDM and since 1990 it has been used widely in implant prostheses and is essential for
preventing biologic and technical failures of implants
("SPARK EROSION and
PROCESS: A NEW fixed
SPARK IN partial
DENTISTRY."), dentures.
(“History of EDM Machining”),
EDM uses electrical discharge to erode the metal
Although both major types of EDM have differences they share the basic
principles of how they remove material while machining.
EDM uses an electrode that is fed extremely close to the base material,
then the machine builds an electric charge and releases an arc between the
electrode and the base material, this arc will flash with very high heat. This
will melt a small amount of base material then melted metal is flushed away
by the dielectric fluid (Dielectric fluid is generally deionized water or a non-
conductive oil).
NOTE
In this example we can see the dielectric fluid flowing
through a hole in the electrode, this would indicate
(Tooling-U, SME “Intro to EDM 100”)
(mscdirect.com “Beyond The CNC: What is Electrical Discharge
that this is an illustration of a sinker EDM being used
Machining”)
(Interestingengineering.com “ What Is Electrical Discharge for hole drilling, in most other EMD operations the part
Machining and How Does it Work”)
is submerged in the Dielectric fluid.
Sinker EDM
• It can be used for any hard material and even in heat treated condition.
• It can also machine ceramic carbide materials and other hard materials.
Due to the EDMs advantage of being able to precisely machine hard materials. It has been used for a
very long time in the tooling and dye industry, for manufacture tooling for forging, stamping, and
casting. In these examples the EDM is being used to machine pre-hardened tool steel (on the left) and
is modifying a carbide mill (on the right).
EDM is slow
• The first Wire EDM machines were slow by today’s standards, rated
at a mere 1-1/2 to 2 in” /hr. machining speeds. Now Manufactures
boasting 25 in”/hr.
• The use of EDM can and does range greatly but EDM is mostly used
for:
• High precision short run work
• Tooling and dye
• Or small precision parts