Analysis of EDM Performance, through a Thermal-Electrical Model with a Trunk-Conical Discharge Channel, Using a Steel Tool and an Aluminium Workpiece.

In this article, a finite element (FE) thermal-electrical model with a trunk-conical discharge channel is employed to simulate individual EDM discharges with a time-on of 18 μs up to 320 μs, which are subsequently compared with the experimental results to validate the model. The discharge channel is a trunk-conical electrical conductor which dissipates heat by the Joule heating effect, being the correspondent factor equal to 1. Instead of the usual copper-iron electrode combination, steel (DIN CK45) and aluminium alloys (DIN 3.