Thermo-fluid multi-physics modeling and experimental verification of volumetric workpiece material removal by a discharge pulse in electric discharge machining process

The volume of material removed from the workpiece by a pulse (Vv) in the electric discharge machining was quantitatively determined using a multi-physics simulation model in ANSYS CFX software. Electrical heating is used in the model to simulate the plasma channel formation by defining the boundary and time-controlled current density initial conditions. Time-dependent physical properties at plasma temperature were used to reflect the actual processing environment. The heat was transferred from the plasma channel to the workpiece by electrical heating from the electrode, and Vv was calculated by means of the amount of heat transfer. The calculated Vv values for AISI4140, Ti6Al4V and Inconel 718 workpieces were lower than the experimental results and the difference was observed to change between 38.3% and 46.9%. © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd