Abstract:
Due to the non-isoenergetic nature of discharge pulses in resistance-capacitance (RC) based micro electrical discharge machining
(μEDM), the volume of produced micro-crater by each pulse varies significantly. This fact has driven the researchers in this work
to propose an electrothermal principle–based analytical model to approximate dimensional accuracies of such micro-craters. A
finite element (FE) simulation considering Gaussian heat flux distribution of single discharge μEDM has been performed at
significant input parameters such as discharge energy, capacitance, and open-circuit voltage and compared with analytical
simulation results. Upon validation of these simulated results with experimental results, nominal dimensional inaccuracies of
2–11% for a wide range of input parameters have been noticed. This effectively predicted crater dimension from the workpiece
can be incorporated in the proposed thermal modeling–based real-time tool wear monitoring and compensation system through a
unique strategy, which is discussed at the end.
