Development of a Thermo-Physical Model for Multi-spark Wire EDM Process

We report the development of a transient thermo-physical finite element model (FEM) of wire electrical discharge machining (wire EDM) process to compute the temperature distribution in the workpiece and the material removal rate (MRR) therefrom. A novel approach considering the effect of overlap of multiple sparks has been developed which shows better agreement with the reported experimental results. Studies relating the effect of important process parameters on MRR have been carried out. The model has been validated using the reported experimental and numerical results.