Numerical simulation and validation of material loadings during electrical discharge machining

摘要

The material removal mechanism of electrical discharge machining of steel bases on melting and evaporation of material by a spark discharge between two electrodes. Consequently, the electrode materials are stressed by an intensive thermal load that leads to changes of microstructure in the rim zones. For modelling these loads, a combined simulation approach of modeling heat transfer and fluid dynamics was implemented. Aim of this research is to develop a heat transfer model, which can reproduce the material removal and predict the local thermal load in the electrodes for correlation with the modifications in electrodes rim zones.