Resource-Efficient Machining of Hard Metals

The main requirements of carbide metal working are higher precision and high quality surface which can be fulfilled by electrical discharge machining. This procedure is accompanied with formation of heat affected zones (white layers) during the discharge process negatively. Therefore, the essential post-processing reduces the efficiency of this process and shows the importance of process energy sources (PES) with ultra short discharge in favor of a clearly differentiated cutting volume. By means of simulations of crater geometry and channel expansion the influence of discharge rise time is defined as determining factor for the cut volume and formation of white layers. The technological section presents two different approaches of realizing ultra-short pulses.