Experimental study on high-speed WEDM finishing in steam water mist

In order to further improve the surface quality in high-speed wire electrical discharge machine (HS-WEDM), a new procedure water mist-liquid combined multiple cut (the finishing is in steam water mist) is presented and has been carried out on the contrast experiment to conventional WEDM multi-cutting processing. Experiments were performed under different cutting conditions of pulse duration, peak current, worktable feed, offset, and amount of mist. Based on the single-factor experiment in steam water mist, Cr12MoV was machined with molybdenum wire electrode by adopting face-centered central composite design of response surface methodology (RSM). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to investigate the influence of process parameters and their interactions. Further, a mathematical model has been formulated in order to estimate the machining characteristics. When first cut was performed in emulsion, second cut was performed in steam water mist, and third cut was done in atmosphere, the surface roughness is improved compared with conventional WEDM.