Workpiece surface modification using electrical discharge machining

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a widely used process in the mould / die and aerospace industries. Following a brief summary of the process, the paper reviews published work on the deliberate surface alloying of various workpiece materials using EDM. Details are given of operations involving powder metallurgy (PM) tool electrodes and the use of powders suspended in the dielectric fluid, typically aluminium, nickel, titanium, etc. Following this, experimental results are presented on the surface alloying of AISI H13 hot work tool steel during a die sink operation using partially sintered WC / Co electrodes operating in a hydrocarbon oil dielectric. An L8 fractional factorial Taguchi experiment was used to identify the effect of key operating factors on output measures (electrode wear, workpiece surface hardness, etc.). With respect to microhardness, the percentage contribution ratios (PCR) for peak current, electrode polarity and pulse on time were ~24, 20 and 19%, respectively. Typically, changes in surface metallurgy were measured up to a depth of ~30 μm (with a higher than normal voltage of ~270 V) and an increase in the surface hardness of the recast layer from ~620 HK 0.025 up to ~1350 HK 0.025.