• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.1003-1007
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• 2002

Micro-EDM is generally used far machining micro 3-D structure. For micro-EDM, first of all, micro-electrode fabrication is needed and WEDG system is proposed for tool electrode fabrication method. When tool electrode is fabricated using WEDG system, its characteristics are under the control of many EDM parameters. Also relations between the parameters affect electrode fabrication. In this study, experiments are carried out to analyze effects of EDM parameters on micro-electrode fabrication. Experimental method and analysis are used to experimental design method. Factors used in experiments are composed of applied voltage, capacitance, wire feed rate, spindle rotating speed, machining time. As a result of experiments, wire feed rate, machining time and capacitance is proportional to gap distance(material removal), the other parameters(applied voltage, spindle rotating speed) and relations between the parameters have little influence on machining.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.218-222
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• 2002

Micro-EDM is generally used far machining micro holes, pockets, and 3-D structures. For micro-EDM, first of all, micro-electrode fabrication is needed and WEDC system is proposed for tool electrode fabrication method. When tool electrode is fabricated using WEDG system, its characteristics are under the control of many EDM parameters. Also relations between the parameters affect electrode fabrication. In this study, experiments are carried out to analyze effects of EDM parameters about electrode surface integrity on micro-electrode fabrication. Experimental method and analysis are used to experimental design method. Factors used in experiments are composed of capacitance, resistance, pause time, wire feed rate, spindle rotating speed. As a result of experiments, capacitance and resistance affect electrode surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.569-570
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• 2006

In this study, the characteristics of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) with the electrode materials were investigated. EDM experiments have been carried out on electrodes with eight different copper-based and graphite-based materials. From the results, the copper-based electrodes showed excellent surface roughness than the graphite-based electrodes. But graphite based electrodes have advantages in economic aspects.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1053-1058
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• 2007

Micro-EDM technology (or the manufacture of miniature parts is used to make a micro hole. Two electrode shaping methods, mechanical electrode grinding and WEDG technique, have been studied. In this study, an electrode shaping method by using previously machined hole is introduced in order to obtain an optimal hole-making condition. Key factors such as applied voltage, capacitance, feedrate, and hole-dimension have an influence on the fabricating error of electrode shaping, which are taper ratio of a hole, electrode form accuracy, and electrode surface. Therefore, we try to investigate the optimal fabricating of electrode shaping from various experiments. Results from experiments, it was able to minimize the electrode fabricating error as voltage increases, and also applied feedrate and capacitance decreases.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.149-155
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• 2013

Electric discharging machining (EDM) is commonly adopted to machine the precise and tiny part when it is difficult to meet the productivity and the tolerance by the conventional cutting method. The die-sinking EDM method works well to machine the micro-parts and the perpendicular wall of die and mould, whereas EDM drilling, called super drill, is excellent to machine the deep and narrow hole regardless the material hardness and the hole location. However, the electrode wear is rapid compared to the conventional cutting tool and makes it difficult to control the electrode feeding and to machine precisely. This paper presents an efficient method to estimate the electrode wear using hole pass-through experiment while the stochastic method is used to compensate for the estimation model. To validate the proposed method, the commercial EDM drill machine is used. The experiment result shows that the electrode wear amount can be predicted very precisely.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.58-64
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• 2000

This paper proposes a method for determining optimal EDM parameters based on discharge area from the physical model of a tool electrode. Main parameters, which affect the EDM performance, are peak value of currents, pulse-on time, and pulse-off time. Such parameters are closely dependent on the discharge area in EDM process. In this paper the discharge area is estimated from the CMM scanning data to the tool electrode. The method is very useful when any geometric information to the tool electrode is not provided from tool modeler or producer. The method consists of following four steps. First a triangulation mesh is constructed from the CMM data. Secondly, the z-map is modeled from the triangulated mesh. Thirdly, the discharge area is estimated from intersection between the z-map model and a z-height plane. Finally, the machining parameters are easily calculated by some known EDM equations to the discharge area. An example is introduced to show that the machining parameters are calculated from the CMM data to a tool electrode.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.3-6
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• 2008

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is one of the most widespread nonconventional machining processes. Recently, a low-power micro-EDM process was introduced using a cylindrical electrode. Since its development, micro-EDM has been applied effectively to micromachining, and because the device setup for this process is simple, it is suitable for a microfactory that minimizes machines to fabricate small products economically in one system. In the EDM process, however, the electrode is also removed along with the workpiece. Therefore, the electrode shape and length vary as machining progresses. In this paper, a control method using a high speed realtime voltage measurement is proposed to regulate the rate and amount of material removed. The proposed method is based on the assumption that the volume of the workpiece removed in a single discharge pulses is nearly constant. The discharge pulses are monitored and controlled to regulate the amount of material removed. For this purpose, we developed an algorithm and apparatus for counting the number of discharge pulses. Electrode wear compensation using pulse number information was applied to EDM milling in a microfactory, in which a slight tilt of the workpiece may occur. The proposed control method improves the machining quality and efficiency by eliminating the inaccuracies caused by electrode wear and workpiece tilt.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.499-500
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• 2006

The electrode wear in micro-EDM significantly deteriorates the machining accuracy. In this regard, electrode wear needs to be compensated in-process to improve the product quality. Therefore, there are substantial amount of research about electrode wear. In this study a control method for micro-EDM using discharge pulse counting is proposed. The method is based on the assumption that the removed workpiece volume is proportional to the number of discharge pulses, which is verified from experimental results analyzing geometrically machined volume according to various number of discharges. Especially, the method has an advantage that electrode wear does not need to be concerned. The proposed method is implemented to an actual micro-EDM system using high speed data acquisition board, simple counting algorithm with 3 axis motion system. As a result, it is demonstrated that the volume of hole machined by EDM drilling can be accurately estimated using the number of discharge pulses. In EDM milling process a micro groove without depth variation caused by electrode wear could be machined using the developed control method. Consequently, it is shown that machining accuracy in drilling and milling processes can be improved by using process control based on the number of discharge pulses.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.13-20
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• 2005

Micro EDM process is generally used for machining microholes, cavities, and three dimensional shapes. For machining micro structures, first of all, micro tool electrode is indispensable and WEDG system is proposed for tool fabrication method. When using WEDG, its machining characteristics are highly affected by many EDM parameters such as applied voltage, current, rotation speed, capacitance, and pulse duration. Therefore, the design of experiment is introduced to fully understand the effect of the EDM parameters on machining tool electrode. And an attempt has been made to develop the mathematical model for predicting the size of the tool electrode by calculating spark distance. The suggested model was verified with experiment and predicted working gap distance is in good accord with the measured value.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.35-42
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• 2020

In discharge machining, material is removed by electrical discharge between the electrode and the workpiece. An important consideration in EDM is that the wear of the electrodes decreases the final precision of the workpiece. The edge wear of the electrodes proceeds very quickly because sparks occur more frequently at the edges with high local electrical strength. In this study, mold steel was discharged with a wedge-shaped graphite electrode to measure the edge wear of the electrode according to the depth. The electrode edge wear increased with depth during EDM and a wear model was developed. The model predicted that the edge wear can be reduced by approximately 70% using two electrodes instead of a single electrode. The model was supported by the experimental comparison of the dual electrode method and the single electrode method.