Influence of discharge current on machined surfaces by thermo-analysis in finish cut of WEDM

In finish machining of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM), the discharge current has distinct influences on the machined surface. In order to study the differences in surface morphology under various pulse durations, thermo-analysis was carried out to investigate the mechanism of erosion of the workpiece material using the finite element method. Additionally, related single discharge experiments under different pulse energies were performed. Under the same discharge energy, the comparison of analytical and experimental results shows that a discharge current with a short-duration pulse and a high peak value removes the workpiece material mainly by gasifying, while a discharge current with a long-duration pulse and low peak value removes the workpiece material mainly by melting. It was also found that surfaces machined by a discharge current with a short- and long-duration pulses would have similar roughness values when the pulse energies were almost the same and were high enough; however, the surface morphologies would be totally different. A discharge current with a long pulse duration and a low peak value could not produce craters on the workpiece surface when the pulse energy was reduced to a certain value. However, a discharge current with a short pulse duration and a high peak value could produce clear craters on the workpiece surface. This indicates that a discharge current with a short pulse duration and a high peak value can generate better surface roughness, which cannot be achieved with a current with a long pulse duration and a low peak value. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.