Study of the machining process of nano-electrical discharge machining based on combined atomistic-continuum modeling method

Nano-electrical discharge machining (nano-EDM) is an attractive measure to manufacture parts with nanoscale precision, however, due to the incompleteness of its theories, the development of more advanced nano-EDM technology is impeded. In this paper, a computational simulation model combining the molecular dynamics simulation model and the two-temperature model for single discharge process in nano-EDM is constructed to study the machining mechanism of nano-EDM from the thermal point of view. The melting process is analyzed. Before the heated material gets melted, thermal compressive stress higher than 3 GPa is induced. After the material gets melted, the compressive stress gets relieved. The cooling and solidifying processes are also analyzed. It is found that during the cooling process of the melted material, tensile stress higher than 3 GPa arises, which leads to the disintegration of material. The formation of the white layer is attributed to the homogeneous solidification, and additionally, the resultant residual stress is analyzed.