Assessment of abrasion-assisted material removal in wire EDM

Machining speed and surface integrity continue to be issues of focus in current wire EDM research. In this light, the proof-of-concept of a hybrid wire EDM process that utilizes a wire embedded with electrically non-conducting abrasives is presented. Material removal in this novel process is realized through electrical erosion that is augmented by two-body abrasion. This is shown to bring about a significant improvement in the removal rate and generate surfaces with minimal recast material, in comparison to an equivalent wire EDM process. Implementation details and process characteristics are discussed.