Experimental investigation of the real-time micro-control of the WEDM process

Abstract

The wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process has inherent instability due to its high complexity and stochastic characteristics. For more stable and efficient machining, the process must be actively controlled in real time while precisely determining the state of the instantaneous machining process. Feedback information when used in conjunction with an unstable discharge pulse ratio and instantaneous discharge energy can be applied to this micro-control system. This study presents the design and implementation of a system that fulfills these demands. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system is capable of simultaneously enhancing the machining stability, machining efficiency, and machining performance. For fine machining, the surface quality was enhanced by approximately 10 % without a loss of machining efficiency. Overall, both the feedrate and the surface roughness could be improved concurrently by more than 5 %.