Investigation on power discharge in micro-EDM stainless steel drilling using different electrodes

The present work deals with the execution of through micro-holes on stainless steel plates using a micro-EDM (Electrical discharge machining) machine. The investigation focuses on the influence of different electrodes’ materials and power discharge on both the process performance and the dimensional characteristics of the holes. The experimental campaign was carried out by varying peak current and voltage in order to achieve both high and low power discharge conditions. Tubular electrodes made of three different materials (tungsten carbide, brass and copper) were used. The indexes taken into account were Material removal rate (MRR), Tool wear ratio (TWR), Diametral overcut (DOC) and Taper rate (TR). Brass and copper electrodes always resulted to be the best solution in terms of drilling speed even though the wear of these electrode types is remarkable higher than the tungsten one. On the opposite, tungsten carbide electrodes resulted to be the best solution when high dimensional and geometrical precision is required. Concerning the finishing of the hole inner surface, the best results were achieved using tungsten carbide electrode.