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Influence of discharge current waveform on surface metamorphic layer in electrical discharge machining

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Abstract

In electrical discharge machining (EDM), the discharge current waveform that determines the process of energy input has an important influence on machining characteristics as the discharge voltage is constant after the dielectric is broken down. In the past, the influence of pulse-on time and current on the surface metamorphic layer under rectangular current waveform has been reported, while the influence of non-rectangular current waveform on the surface metamorphic layer is still elusive. In this study, the difference in the surface metamorphic layer of the workpiece processed by triangular current waveform and rectangular current waveform under the same pulse energy was investigated and analyzed. Compared with rectangular current waveform, surface roughness of the workpiece processed by triangular current waveform was higher. Cracks on the surface of the sample produced by rectangular current waveform always exist from 0.088 to 1.96 mJ. However, it was difficult to observe cracks on the surface of the sample processed by the triangular current waveform when the pulse energy was higher than 0.41 mJ. There is no obvious difference in the intensities of diffraction peaks α-Fe, γ-Fe, and cementite for the samples processed by rectangular current waveform with different discharge energy. However, for the workpiece fabricated by triangular current waveform, the peaks of cementite and γ-Fe increased as the pulse energy increased. When the pulse energy was low, the white layer of the sample processed by rectangular current waveform was thinner than that processed by triangular current waveform. This phenomenon is reversed when the pulse energy is high.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Bing Ren for English proofreading. Guisen Wang thanks the inimitable care and support of Wanyi Zhang over the years.

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All the data and materials of this work are available to the readers, according to the magazine policies.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Key Foundation of China (61409230307) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB1105900).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Guisen Wang & Fuzhu Han

  2. Beijing Key Lab of Precision/Ultra-precision Manufacturing Equipment and Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Guisen Wang & Fuzhu Han

  3. Makino Asia China PTE. LTD., Kunshan, 215300, China

    Liang Zhu

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  1. Guisen Wang
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Contributions

Guisen Wang: conceptualization, methodology, experiment, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing (original draft preparation), and writing (review and editing)

Fuzhu Han: supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition

Liang Zhu: conceptualization, formal analysis, and supervision

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Correspondence to Fuzhu Han.

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Wang, G., Han, F. & Zhu, L. Influence of discharge current waveform on surface metamorphic layer in electrical discharge machining. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 119, 6147–6161 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07738-4

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