Characterizing the Effects of Micro Electrical Discharge Machining Parameters on Material Removal Rate during Micro EDM Drilling of Tungsten Carbide (WC-Co)

Micro-dies, molds and miniaturized products can be manufactured using micro EDM process. In this research, EDM machine and on-machine fabricated CuW micro-electrode were utilized to produce the micro holes in WC-16%Co. The effects of voltage, current, pulse ON time, pulse OFF time, capacitor and rotating speed on Material removal rate (MRR) during micro EDM drilling of WC-16% Co was analyzed using fractional factorial design method. ANOVA analysis shows that increasing current, rotating speed, capacitor and decreasing voltage and pulse ON time lead to the amplify in MRR. It was found that out of all the factors, current and capacitor had the most significant effect on MRR, while the effect of capacitor was more than current. Eventually, it can be concluded that micro holes can be produced using EDM machine. (paper)