Drilling and milling μEDM– a comprehensive and comparative evaluation

Abstract

This paper accentuates the inherently persistent tool wear issue and its consequences in variants of micro-electro discharge machining (μEDM). μEDM-drilling and μEDM-milling, two important variants of μEDM have been currently considered for the analysis as they have distinct feed directions for tool electrodes. The difference in feed directions of the processes provide distinct scope for debris removal and hence dissimilar machining time, material removal rate (MRR), tool wear etc. In order to quantify such effects, the processes are evaluated based on a scientific approach adopted in experimentation. On analysis, the effects of poor evacuation of debris on tool wear and dimensional inaccuracies in workpiece was found dominating in case of μEDM-drilling.