Electrical Discharge Machining - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

Some of the advantages of EDM include machining of:

  • Complex shapes that would otherwise be difficult to produce with conventional cutting tools
  • Extremely hard material to very close tolerances
  • Very small work pieces where conventional cutting tools may damage the part from excess cutting tool pressure.
  • There is no direct contact between tool and work piece. Therefore delicate sections and weak materials can be machined without any distortion.
  • A good surface finish can be obtained.
  • Very fine holes can be easily drilled.

Some of the disadvantages of EDM include:

  • The slow rate of material removal.
  • The additional time and cost used for creating electrodes for ram/sinker EDM.
  • Reproducing sharp corners on the workpiece is difficult due to electrode wear.
  • Specific power consumption is very high.
  • Power consumption is high.
  • "Overcut" is formed.
  • Excessive tool wear occurs during machining.
  • Electrically non-conductive materials can be machined only with specific set-up of the process.

Read more about this topic:  Electrical Discharge Machining

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