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doi:10.3850/978-981-07-0319-6_232
Die-Sinking Micro EDM for Complex 3D Structuring — Research Directions
S. Bigot1, G. Bissacco2 and J. Valentinčič3
1Manufacturing Engineering Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
bigots@cf.ac.uk
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
3Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT
Micro electrical discharge machining (μEDM) is one of the main micro engineering technologies used for manufacturing of tool inserts. Mainly μEDM milling is used, but due to long machining time required to remove bigger volumes, die-sinking μEDM could be a good alternative. In this paper, the die-sinking μEDM process is examined and the required steps to upgrade this technology to be used for machining of accurate 3D shapes are outlined. The main issue is to model the wear and to keep under control the random factors such as contamination of the gap and material homogeneity. Some important metrology issues are outlined as well. Two modelling approaches are considered, namely cellular automata approach and estimation of the wear from FEM calculation of the electrostatic electric field. Keywords: Micro Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), Modelling, Wear.
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