A GEOMETRICAL APPROACH FOR REDUCTION OF TOOL SHAPE DEGENERATION IN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE MACHINING (EDM)

In this study, the geometric wear characteristics of tool electrodes were obtained for various pulse time, discharge current and machining depth settings in electric discharge machining. Different forms of protrusions were machined on the front surface of the tool to reduce the geometric wear. Significant reductions in original tool geometric wear characteristics (front wear, side wear and edge wear) were obtained with the use of square cross-section protrusions. The dimensions of the square cross-section protrusions were modeled mathematically in terms of machining parameters used in the experiments.