Assessment of abrasion-assisted material removal in wire EDM

Machining speed and surface integrity continue to be issues of focus in current wire EDM research. In this light, the proof-of-concept of a hybrid wire EDM process that utilizes a wire embedded with electrically non-conducting abrasives is presented. Material removal in this novel process is realized through electrical erosion that is augmented by two-body abrasion. This is shown to bring about a significant improvement in the removal rate and generate surfaces with minimal recast material, in comparison to an equivalent wire EDM process. Implementation details and process characteristics are discussed. (c) 2008 CIRP.