Surface Quality Improvement of wire-EDM Using A Fine-Finish Power Supply
Surface Quality Improvement of wire-EDM Using A Fine-Finish Power Supply
Surface Quality Improvement of wire-EDM Using A Fine-Finish Power Supply
Abstract
This paper presents the development and application of a new ne-nish power supply in wire-EDM. The transistor-controlled power
supply composed of a full-bridge circuit, two snubber circuits and a pulse control circuit was designed to provide the functions of anti-
electrolysis, high frequency and very-low-energy pulse control. Test results indicated that the pulse duration of discharge current can be
shortened through the adjustment of capacitance in parallel with the sparking gap. High value of capacitance contributes to longer
discharge duration. A high current-limiting resistance results in the decrease of discharge current. Peak current increases with the
increase of pulse on-time and thus contributes to an increase in thickness of recast layer. Experimental results not only verify the
usefulness of the developed ne-nish power supply in eliminating titaniums bluing and rusting effect and reducing micro-cracking in
tungsten carbide caused by electrolysis and oxidation, but also demonstrate that the developed system can achieve a ne surface nish as
low as 0.22 mm Ra.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0890-6955/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2007.01.006
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a decrease of fatigue strength and an increase of surface analyzed quantitatively. Experimental verication of the
roughness and hence contributing to the degradation of developed pulse generator for the improvement of surface
surface integrity and premature failure of the machined quality in wire-EDM is shown. The developed power
part. supply can achieve a 0.22 mm Ra surface nish through four
In order to reduce the electrolytic current during erosion nishing operations with proper machining settings.
and to obtain better surface quality, some studies using
lower-conductivity deionized water through the ionization 2. Fine-nish power supply for wire-EDM
of distilled water have been presented [13]. Some machine
tool builders have developed new pulse generators using 2.1. Design of transistor-controlled fine-finish power supply
water dielectrics and anti-electrolysis circuitry to achieve
high-quality surface machining and high-accuracy machin- Fig. 1 shows a circuit diagram of the developed ne-
ing [411]. Wire-EDM machines equipped with multi- nish power supply for wire-EDM. The power supply
generators have also been presented to supply high energy composed of a full-bridge circuit, two snubber circuits and
to the machining gap during roughing and lower energy for an iso-frequency pulse control circuit can provide both
nish machining while connecting the wire electrode to the high-frequency and very-low-energy pulses by using
positive pole [12]. A new supernishing circuit has been transistor-controlled RC-type circuitry. The developed
proposed to decrease the attractive force between the wire transistor-controlled power supply was designed to reduce
electrode and the workpiece and this results in a better the anodic oxidation of workpiece material due to
straightness of the workpiece and better surface quality on electrolytic effect by reversing the wire electrode polarity
the nished surface without streaks or waviness [13]. To during erosion and thus, the average gap voltage is held at
obtain good surface roughness, a DC pulse-generating zero and the discharge current is switched from DC to AC.
circuit of positive polarity (wire electrode is set as anode) The workpiece, therefore, is protected from corrosion and
has been presented for nish machining [14]. It is well rusting. The full-bridge circuit consists of a negative
known that resistancecapacitance (RC) circuitry has been polarity discharge circuit and a positive polarity discharge
commonly employed in micro-EDM since it can easily circuit driven by MOSFET M1 and M3, and M2 and M4,
achieve a low discharge peak current within a short period respectively. Correspondingly, the two snubber circuits
of time [15]. However, the property of the uncontrolled driven by MOSFET M5 and M6 have the duty to absorb an
discharge duration prevents further improvement of excessive discharge energy stored in the sparking gap for
cutting surfaces. A new transistor-type isopulse generator positive polarity and negative polarity discharge circuit,
was therefore developed using a current sensor with high- respectively. In this paper, polarity refers to the wire
frequency response to achieve uniform discharge energy for electrodes polarity and thus, the negative polarity is
each discharge spark as well as to improve the machining specied when the wire electrode is connected to the
characteristics of micro-EDM [16]. negative pole. Two snubber circuits were designed to
As demands on ne surface nish and better surface absorb an excessive discharge energy stored into the
integrity in manufacturing industry, grows and becomes discharging path as well as to protect the pulse control
stringent there is an increasing need for ne-nish power circuit from electrical and electromagnetic interference. As
supply in wire-EDM to provide high-frequency and very- depicted in Fig. 1, the current-limiting resistor R1 in serial
low-energy pulses as well as to suppress the phenomenon of with the discharge circuit was designed to adjust the peak
electrolysis. This paper presents a new ne-nish power current. The capacitor C in parallel with the sparking gap
supply in wire-EDM. The power supply can reduce the was designed to adjust the pulse duration of discharge
electrolytic effect by reversing the polarity during machin- current. Fig. 2 illustrates the timing chart of the pulse
ing as well as providing high-frequency and very-low- control signals and associated pulse trains of wire-EDM.
energy pulses by using transistor-controlled RC-type P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6 are the pulse control signals of the
circuitry. By means of the power supply, the relationships MOSFET M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6, respectively. Pulse
between generator parameters and peak current were on-time of negative polarity tin is a time period when the
M2 M3
R2
V C Voltage Probe
110V M5 M6
M1 M4
Workpiece Oscilloscope
R1
Current
Pulse Control Probe
Signal MOSFET
Driver
Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of the developed ne-nish power supply for wire-EDM.
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pulse control signals P1 and P3 remain high. Pulse off-time a short duration of discharge current. After each discharge,
of negative polarity ton is a time period when the pulse the MOSFET M1 and M3 are turned off, and the
control signal P5 remains high. Correspondingly, tip and top MOSFET M5 is turned on through the pulse control signal
represent pulse on-time and pulse off-time of positive of P5, an excessive discharge energy stored into the
polarity, respectively. When the MOSFET M1 and M3 are inductive part of the negative polarity discharging path is
turned on through the pulse control signals P1 and P3, directed to the resistor R2. For the positive discharge
respectively, the capacitor C is charged through the resistor circuit, when the MOSFET M2 and M4 are turned on
R1 by supplying a DC voltage of 110 V and discharged through the pulse control signals of P2 and P4, respectively,
between the wire electrode and workpiece while producing the spark occurs and generating current ows from the wire
electrode to the workpiece. During the off-time period of
tin ton tip top positive polarity, an excessive discharge energy stored into
the sparking gap is also directed through control MOSFET
M6 to the resistor R2. If the excessive energy remains in the
sparking gap and is not to be drained out by means of the
P1 ,P3
snubber circuits, it could appear instability to the dischar-
ging as well as cause damage to the internal circuit of the
power supply. For example, when the snubber circuit of
P5 positive polarity is removed from the power supply, during
the off-time period of positive polarity, excessive discharge
Pulse Control
Signals
energy was stored into the sparking gap. If spark occurs
during the pulse on-time period of negative polarity, high
generating current of more than 7 A resulting from
P2 ,P4
excessive discharge power stored in the sparking gap ows
through the discharge circuit and causes damage to the
P6 fuse, MOSFET M1 and M3 of the power supply. In order
to reduce the oscillation of discharge current due to effect
of wire inductance in the discharging path, the length of
wire between the discharge gap and the snubber circuits
was chosen as short as possible.
Fig. 3 demonstrates the schematic diagram of the pulse
control circuit and drive circuit. As shown in Fig. 3, a
Gap
Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), which
Voltage allows easy modication of the design, clocked by a
20 MHz crystal oscillator is employed to generate the pulse
control signals. The drive circuit consists of two optocou-
plers, a level shifting circuit and a high-speed driver. The
optocouplers are used to transmit the CPLD-level data to the
level shifting circuit without being concerned about incom-
Gap
Current patible or harmful voltage levels. The level shifting circuit is
used to provide high current and voltage levels necessary to
drive the power MOSFETs from the output signals of the
Fig. 2. Timing chart of the pulse control signals and associated pulse optocouplers. The driver provides the function of driving the
trains of wire-EDM. power MOSFETs at the desired frequency.
Oscillator
CPLD
Divider
Drive Circuit
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the pulse control circuit and drive circuit.
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2.2. Pulse waveform analysis when the electrode makes physical contact with the
workpiece and therefore, the gap voltage is zero and the
The shape of gap voltage and current waveforms discharge current is alternating. Timing chart of the pulse
depends on the type of pulse generators. Through the control signals for short circuit is the same as that of other
pulse waveform analysis, the developed power supply was gap states. During the off-time period for different
veried and evaluated. Fig. 4 shows the gap voltage and polarities, electric current of short circuit is delivered
current waveforms of the four basic wire-EDM gap states, through the snubber circuit because of excessive discharge
which were collected by a high-speed digital oscilloscope energy stored in the sparking gap. Since the developed
and a current probe system during the nishing operation power supply can provide positive and negative voltages
of wire-EDM. As shown in Fig. 4, gap states are classied between the wire electrode and the workpiece, the gap
as open circuit, normal spark, arc discharge and short current of short circuit is alternating as shown in Fig. 4(b).
circuit by means of the level of gap voltage and discharge Fig. 4(c) shows a normal spark with positive polarity
current. Open circuits occur when the gap width is too determined when the instantaneous gap voltage is higher
large so there is no current conduction through the gap and than 80 V and the discharge current has a peak current of
thus, the gap voltage is alternating and the discharge 4.5 A with three oscillations. An arc discharge is discrimi-
current is zero as shown in Fig. 4(a). Short circuits occur nated by a lower instantaneous gap voltage of 50 V and
Fig. 4. Gap voltage and current waveforms of the four basic wire-EDM gap states: (a) open circuit, (b) short circuit, (c) normal spark and (d) arc
discharge.
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Fig. 5. Inuence of the capacitance on discharge current waveforms: (a) C 1 nF, (b) C 5 nF and (c) C 10 nf.
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a lower peak current of 3.5 A with small oscillation in power supply during nish machining. Based on the
comparison with those of a normal spark as illustrated in circuitry of the developed ne-nish power supply,
Fig. 4(d). machining results using AC power supply or DC power
Fig. 5 shows the inuence of the capacitance on supply of negative polarity can be obtained by one set of
discharge current waveforms. When the value of the power switches. For comparison purpose, the DC power
capacitance C is set to 1 nF, the discharge current has supply of negative polarity is also employed in the
discharge duration of 120 ns compared with discharge experiments. Brass wire with a diameter of 0.25 mm is
duration of 160 ns for the capacitance of 5 nF and used as the wire electrode. Tool steel SKD11, titanium
discharge duration of 180 ns for the capacitance of 10 nF. alloy and tungsten carbide are used as the workpiece
This is because higher value of capacitance results in higher materials. Titanium is a light weight yet strong material
discharge energy in the sparking gap when the discharge used primarily in the aerospace and medical industries.
voltage is kept almost constant during erosion and thus Tungsten carbide is an extremely hard material used
contributes to longer pulse duration of discharge current. extensively in manufacturing because of its superior wear
As shown in Fig. 5(c), there exist two sparks during the on- and corrosion resistance. The relations between the
time period of positive polarity when the value of generator parameters (including current-limiting resistance
capacitance is set to 10 nF. An arc discharge occurs after and pulse on-time) and the peak current were experimen-
a normal spark because the spark gap is still charged with a tally obtained and analyzed. All the experiments were
high-voltage potential during the on-time period and the conducted under the conditions of, a pulse off-time of 1 ms,
dielectric uid is not completely deionized. It also can be a wire tension of 1700 gf, a wire feed of 5 mm/min and a
seen from Fig. 5 that the discharge duration is the same, water resistivity of 100 kO cm. Analysis of 2D workpiece
but the peak current is slightly different for each polarity surface topography was performed using a Taylor Sur-
under the condition of a xed value of capacitance. The tronic surface prolometer. Microstructural evaluation
reason for the different peak currents for different utilized a Hitachi S-2150 scanning electron microscope
polarities is that wire resistances of the positive and (SEM) and a Nikon MM-11 optical microscope tted with
negative polarity discharge circuit are not exactly the a charge couple device (CCD) video camera.
same. This gure indicates that short discharge duration
can be obtained through the adjustment of capacitance in 4. Results and discussion
the discharge circuit and hence the discharge energy can be
kept small. Fig. 6 shows the relation between the pulse on-time and
the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to
3. Experimental method zero. Without the capacitance, the discharge circuit for
each polarity during the pulse on-time period can be
A wire-EDM machine with a PC-based controller regarded as a resistanceinductance (RL) circuit. Accord-
developed by local machine tool builder, Jiann Sheng ing to basic circuit theory, loop current increases exponen-
Machinery & Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is employed. tially to a steady-state level limited by the current-limiting
This machine consists of an anti-electrolysis power supply, resistance R1 for a xed supply voltage of 110 V. Therefore,
a dielectric generation system, a computer numerical the peak current increases slightly with the pulse on-time.
control system, a wire transport system, a ve-axis motion The peak current is as low as 0.7 A when the pulse on-time
system and a ushing device. To supply high-frequency and is 1 ms for a xed current-limiting resistance of 20 O. Under
low-energy pulses, the anti-electrolysis power supply such power condition, the discharge frequency is as high as
equipped with the commercial wire-EDM machine has 500 kHz since both the pulse on-time and pulse off-time is
been replaced by the developed ne-nish wire-EDM 1 ms. When the value of the capacitance is set to zero, the
1.8
1.6
1.4
Peak current (A)
1.2
1
0.8
0.6 Current-limiting resistance 10
0.4 Current-limiting resistance 15
0.2 Current-limiting resistance 20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pulse on-time (s)
Fig. 6. Relation between the pulse on-time and the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to zero.
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relation between the current-limiting resistance and the Fig. 11 shows a comparison between the surface of
peak current is shown in Fig. 7. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the tungsten carbide machined by ne-nish power supply and
higher the current-limiting resistance, the lower the peak DC power supply. As depicted in the left side of Fig. 11,
current. Fig. 8 shows the effect of peak current on the deionized waters faster quenching gives the surface of
recast layer of tool steel SKD11. As shown in Fig. 8, it can tungsten carbide a granular appearance. The surface of
be clearly seen that 13 mm thick recast layer and its
thickness increases with the increase of the peak current.
Finished surfaces produced in a water dielectric commonly a
used in wire-EDM process tend to have a lower hardness
than the parent material because of anode oxidation. This
anodic oxidation along with electrolysis can release or
deplete carbon, cobalt and other materials surface. In
addition, copper atoms that have been released from the
brass wire can be assimilated into the exposed surface of
the workpiece material, further contributing to alloying
process and softening the parent materials [17]. Ip = 0.7A
Fig. 9 shows the machined surface of titanium alloy
when three slits were machined by ne-nish power supply b
and DC power supply. As shown in Fig. 9(b), the surface of
titanium machined by DC power supply turns blue and
rusty because of oxidation along with electrolysis. This
bluing effect can cause the degradation of surface quality,
premature failure of the machined part and thus prohibit-
ing increased use of wire-EDMing in medical and aero-
space applications. The developed ne-nish power supply
can prevent machined surface of titanium alloy from
Ip = 1.2A
turning blue and rusting as shown in Fig. 9(a). Fig. 10
shows the cross-section view of titanium surface machined c
by ne-nish power supply and DC power supply. Because
of oxidation and electrolysis, machined surface of titanium
turns blue and has an oxidized layer with some micro-
cracks are these indicate surface damage when using DC
power supply. Although the oxidized layer can be removed
with secondary machining operations, those operations can
affect overall accuracy of the machined part. The devel-
oped ne-nish power supply can prevent the oxidation of
Ip = 2.3A
titanium are can also eliminate the oxidized layer and thus
contributes to lowering polishing time and attendant cost Fig. 8. Effect of peak current on the recast layer of tool steel SKD11: (a)
because of less surface degradation. Ip 0.7 A, (b) Ip 1.2 A and (c) Ip 2.3 A.
2.5
2
Peak current (A)
1.5
1 Pulse on-time = 1 s
Pulse on-time = 4 s
0.5
Pulse on-time = 7 s
0
5 10 15 20
Current-limiting Resistance ()
Fig. 7. Relation between the current-limiting resistance and the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to zero.
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tungsten carbide machined by DC power supply has micro- ne-nish power supply and DC power supply. The surface
cracks and defects as depicted in the right side of Fig. 11. of tungsten carbide machined by DC power supply depicts
Tungsten carbide is a power metal comprising tungsten many micro-cracks caused by cobalt depletion. However,
particles and other metal powders held together with cobalt the ne-nish power supply can reduce damage to the
as the binder and is obtained compacting or sintering. surface of tungsten carbide by providing high-frequency
When DC voltage and current are supplied by a DC power and very-low-energy pulses.
supply during the wire-EDM process, the cobalt binder is Having demonstrated the usefulness of the ne-nish
seriously damaged and broken due to the electrolysis and power supply in eliminating the bluing of titanium and the
oxidation. With less binder holding the tungsten together, cobalt depletion of tungsten carbide caused by the
the cobalt binder and tungsten particles are separated. electrolytic effect when using deionized water as a dielectric
These exposed tungsten particles can cause cobalt depletion liquid, experiments of nishing operation using the
and micro-cracking, thus can lead to premature part or developed pulse generator were conducted to achieve a
tool failure [17]. As shown in the right side of Fig. 11, ne surface. Steps of nishing operation are given in
tungsten carbide suffers surface degradation as a result of Table 1. Since the surface nish is dominantly affected by
cobalt binder depletion caused by electrolysis and oxida- the discharge energy mainly decided by the peak current
tion when using DC power supply. Nevertheless, the ne- and the pulse duration, these two parameters were
nish power supply can reduce electrolytic damage and gradually decreased for nishing operations through the
corrosion to the tungsten carbide. Fig. 12 shows the SEM adjustment of the current-limiting resistance and the
micrographs of tungsten carbide surface machined by using capacitance, respectively. In addition, high wire tension
Fig. 9. Titanium surfaces machined by (a) ne-nish power supply and (b)
DC power supply. Table 1
Steps of nishing process
1 2 3 4
Fig. 11. Comparisons between surface of tungsten carbide using ne-nish power supply (left) and DC power supply (right).
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Acknowledgments