Crater morphology evaluation of contemporary advanced EDM generator technology

EDM generator technology has considerably evolved over the last decades in terms of power efficiency and process-based energy dissipation by application of advanced power electronics as well as real-time based control strategies. In this paper, nowadays achievable crater morphologies of contemporary advanced generator technologies are evaluated in context of surface functionality for selected roughness levels based on the well-known VDI3400 standard for surface characterization. Crater topographies are experimentally analyzed by application of tactile as well as optical roughness measurements and morphologies are studied by means of scanning electron microscopy. Finally, suggestions for appropriate extensions of the given standard will be presented.