• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1147-1154
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• 1990

Micro-hole drilling by EDM and production of fine rods for the tool electrode or other purpose have become very important in industry. This paper suggests a new method for production of very fine rods by ultrasonic-assisted chemical machining and describes the machining characteristics of micro-hole drilling by EDM. For fine rods, copper wires of initial diameter of 250.mum are used and successfully machined into a diameter of less than 30.mum with good repeatability. The ultrasonic agitation not only accelerated the material removal rate uniformly, but also produced smooth surfaces of fine rods. To drill the micro-hole, kerosene and pure water is used as a dielectric. From the experiment, water is superior to kerosene with respect to surface roughness of inlet and outlet of hole and machined surface as well as electrode wear. However, due to the electrochemical reaction of water, small pits are remained on the workpiece surface.