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Improvement of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining Characteristics in Machining Boron-doped Polycrystalline Diamond Using a Novel Iso-pulse Generator

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Abstract

This study aims to present a novel iso-pulse generator for improving machining characteristics of boron-doped polycrystalline composite diamond (BD-PCD) by wire electrical discharge machining (wire-EDM). The transistor-controlled pulse generator composed of a high-power source circuit, a low-power source circuit, a snubber circuit and a complex programmable logic device based pulse control circuit was devised to provide a high open voltage during the ignition period and a low peak current with a fixed discharge duration for sparking as well as identify gap states as normal sparks and abnormal sparks based on the duration of ignition delay time. Pulse on-time and pulse interval of each spark are regulated in real-time to achieve the stability of machining operation while preventing wire electrode from breaking according to the identified gap state. Compared to a conventional iso-frequency pulse generator, the developed iso-pulse generator can provide smaller variation of peak current and discharge duration and thus, the latter can enable the wire-EDM process to produce smaller surface damages and better surface quality than the former. Experimental results not only verify the iso-pulse generator can achieve a fine surface finish as low as Ra 0.247 μm on machined surface of BD-PCD through one rough and one finish machining operation, they also demonstrate that the developed system can enable a table-top wire-EDM machine to successfully sharpen the cutting edge of BD-PCD end milling tools.

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Abbreviations

M 1, M 2, M 3 :

Metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET)

P 1, P 2, P 3 :

Pulse control signal of MOSFET

P s :

Threshold pulse signal

T d :

Ignition delay time

T e :

Pulse on-time

T h :

Pulse duration of high-power source

T o :

Pulse off-time

T s :

A threshold period of 1 μs

V 1 :

Spark generating signal

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under Grant No. :MOST 104-2221-E-167 -035 -MY2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Precision Manufacturing, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Mu-Tian Yan

  2. Department of Mechatronic Engineering, Huafan University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yu-Chih Cheng & Shenq-Yih Luo

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  1. Mu-Tian Yan
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Correspondence to Mu-Tian Yan.

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Yan, MT., Cheng, YC. & Luo, SY. Improvement of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining Characteristics in Machining Boron-doped Polycrystalline Diamond Using a Novel Iso-pulse Generator. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 20, 159–166 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-019-00052-w

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