A review on magnetic field assisted electrical discharge machining

Abstract Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a thermophysical-based material removal process that has excellent ability for noncontact machining of brittle and hard materials with accurate 3-D complex shapes. Improvements in machining characteristics, including the material removal rate (MRR), surface integrity, electrode wear rate (EWR), energy consumption, and negative environmental impact, are significant for further developing the performance of the EDM process. Recently, magnetic field assisted method has shown great potential and superiority for enhancing the machining process and its performance due to the ease of contactless forces. In this paper, a review was conducted on the magnetic field-assisted electrical discharge machining process. This review first presented the principles and modeling of magnetic field-assisted electrical discharge machining (MF-EDM) and then analyzed the effect of magnetic fields on machining performance including the discharge status, MRR, EWR, and surface integrity. Parametric optimization and machining characteristics of typical difficult-to-cut materials in the MF-EDM process were further investigated. Finally, future research directions and trends were suggested for exploring new applications of magnetic field assisted technology in the electromachining process.