Electro-discharge machining - A qualitative approach

The complex and stochastic nature of Electro-Discharge Machining (EDM) has drawn numerous investigations to establish control over the quality related characteristics such as better surface finish, smaller heat-affected zone including minimized recast layer without compromising the productivity of the machining process. The present paper proposes a three-dimensional transient heat conduction model where the growth of the plasma channel is considered. The temperature distribution function is used to compute the depth of the crater that defines the surface roughness (Ry) and depth of the heat-affected zone at different pulse duration. Further, experiments are conducted to measure the depth of the crater and the depth of the heat-affected zone. The experimental and theoretical results show significant similarity.