Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

Development of parallel spark electrical discharge machining

Fuzhu Han , Masanori Kunieda
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan
Received 22 November 2002; received in revised form 6 May 2003; accepted 30 May 2003

Abstract
This paper describes the development of parallel spark EDM method. In the discharge circuit, the electrode is divided into multiple
electrodes, each of which is electrically insulated and connected to the pulse generator through a diode. A capacitor is inserted parallel to
each discharge gap between each electrode and workpiece (here workpiece is common for each electrode). Compared with conventional
EDM in which only a singular discharge can be generated for each pulse, multiple discharges can dispersively be generated for each pulse
in parallel spark EDM. Results of experiments on parallel spark EDM and conventional EDM show that not only is the machining process
more stable, but the machining speed and surface roughness can also be improved with parallel spark EDM.
2003 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Keywords: EDM; Parallel spark EDM; Multiple discharges; Simultaneous discharges; Large area finishing

1. Introduction
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has the advantage
of high precision and is widely used in the machining of
metal molds. However, it comes with the major problem of
poor removal rate compared with the electrical chemical machining (ECM), milling and the like. The low removal rate
is due to the fact that discharge must be generated intermittently using a pulse generator and there is only one discharge
point for each pulse. The pulse is indispensable because the
plasma formed at the discharge point should be deionized
during the pulse interval so that the next discharge point can
be generated at some other place. Generally, the removal rate
can be improved by shortening the pulse interval, however,
when the pulse interval is shortened below a certain length,
the plasma cannot be extinguished during the pulse interval,
resulting in concentrated discharge [1]. Therefore, improving
the removal rate by generating discharges at multiple points
for each pulse will appears to be an appealing solution.
To generate discharges occur at two or more places, Fujimoto [2] developed a multi-circuit system of using a number
of discharge circuits and corresponding number of electrodes
to the circuit. It was reported that this method can improve
the machining speed. However, the demerit of this system is
that it needs a number of discharge circuits, which results a
high making cost when the number of the electrodes is larger.
Corresponding

author. Tel.: +81-42-388-7421; fax: +81-42-385-7204.

E-mail address: hanfz@cc.tuat.ac.jp (F. Han).

0141-6359/$ see front matter 2003 Published by Elsevier Inc.

doi:10.1016/S0141-6359(03)00076-X

Mohri et al. [3] proposed a method of dividing the electrode

into multiple electrodes. Each of these electrodes is electrically insulated and connected to the pulse generator through
a resistance. It has been reported that this method produces
better surface roughness even in the finishing of a large surface area, because the influence of the large stray capacity of
the working gap on the surface roughness is eliminated by
dividing the large electrode into multiple electrodes. On the
other hand, with the breakdown in the gap between one of the
divided electrodes and workpiece, the surface electric charge
on the other electrodes is transferred towards the electrode
where the discharge occurred, resulting in higher gap voltages at the other electrodes. Hence, it has also been reported
that discharges can occur in multiple electrodes simultaneously. However, the method proposed by Mohri et al. is effective only for finishing large surface areas with significantly
large stray capacity.
Suzuki et al. [4] and Kubota et al. [5] developed a twin electrode discharge system for the discharge dressing of metal
bonded grinding wheels. The discharge circuit is formed by
connecting the pulse generator to one of the two electrodes,
the grinding wheel, and the other twin electrode serially. In
this system, for each generator pulse, one discharge occurs in
the gap between one tool electrode and the grinding wheel,
and another discharge occurs at the same time in the gap between the other tool electrode and the grinding wheel. Hence,
two discharge points can be obtained simultaneously at both
the gaps between the twin electrodes and grinding wheel using only one generator by this method. There is therefore no

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F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

need to insulate the grinding wheel from the machine body

or attach a slip-ring brush.
Kunieda and Muto [6] utilized the same circuit configuration as the twin electrode discharge system, and developed
the multi-spark EDM method, in which to balance the removal rates in both gaps, the polarity of the pulse generator
is changed adaptively to equalize the gap voltages measured at both gaps. The removal rate and energy efficiency
of multi-spark EDM are considerably higher than those of
conventional EDM methods. However, because multi-spark
EDM can be theoretically applied only when using two electrodes, the maximum possible improvement of the removal
rate is expected to be at most two times higher than that of
the conventional EDM.
Thus, a new parallel spark EDM method was proposed in
this study in which multiple discharges are generated one by
one or simultaneously while each pulse voltage is applied.
The aim of this study was to obtain a considerable improvement in the removal rate, machining stability and surface
roughness.

2. Principle of parallel spark EDM method

The circuit of parallel spark EDM is shown in Fig. 1. The
electrode is divided into multiple electrodes, each of which is
electrically insulated and connected to a pulse generator with
a diode. A capacitor is inserted between the workpiece and
each electrode. Each capacitor is charged through a diode by
Vcc (dc generator) when the switching device (transistor device) is ON. As a result, the voltage between each electrode
and workpiece rises to the voltage of Vcc. In this case, if discharge is generated between any one of the electrodes and the
workpiece, the voltage between that electrode and workpiece
drops so that the voltage between point d and workpiece also
drops simultaneously. However, since the diode is reversely
biased, the voltage between the other electrodes and workpiece remains the same as the voltage of Vcc until a discharge
occurs in the other electrodes. Therefore, ideally, the number of discharges in each charging period of the capacitors is
equivalent to the number of electrodes divided. As a result,
compared with conventional EDM in which only one dis-

Electrode

R d D1
D2
D3

Dn
Vcc
Cn

C3 C2 C1

Fig. 1. Circuit of parallel spark EDM.

Workpiece

Tr.

charge is generated in each charging period of the capacitors

or each ON time of the transistor, the parallel spark EDM can
attain a significantly higher removal rate. Moreover, since in
each charging period of the capacitors, only one discharge
occurs in one electrode, discharge locations are dispersed,
resulting in more stable machining.
Actually, the equivalent circuit of Fig. 1 is a RC type circuit,
thus the switching device in the circuit can be eliminated.
However, since the RC type circuit has a demerit of easily
causing abnormal discharge due to its no pulse interval time,
in the present study, the circuit with the switching device as
shown in Fig. 1 was adopted in which the pulse interval time
can be preset.

3. Discharge phenomena using parallel spark EDM

method
3.1. Voltage and current waveform
Fig. 2 shows voltage and current waveforms in the gap using parallel spark EDM method when the electrode is divided
into two. The machining conditions are shown in Table 1.
After the voltage of both electrodes rises due to the electric
charge from Vcc, discharge occurred in electrode 1 first. At
this instant, the voltage of electrode 1 dropped, but, the voltage of electrode 2 remained the same as the voltage of Vcc.
After about 30 s, discharge also occurred on electrode 2, indicating that discharge occurs twice in one charging period
of capacitors. Fig. 3 shows voltage and current waveforms of
both electrodes when discharge occurred almost at the same
time in both electrodes. Such waveforms were observed more
frequently in the experiments than those in Fig. 2. The next
section discusses the reasons for this simultaneous discharge
phenomenon.
3.2. Simultaneous discharges
The voltage waveforms shown in Figs. 2 and 3 were measured at points e and f (see Fig. 4) which are distanced from
the gap. Since inductance L existent in the electrodes is not
zero, the waveforms measured at points e and f are considered not exactly equal to the waveforms at the gap. In order
to understand the phenomenon of simultaneous discharges,
gap voltage was measured at points a and b (see Fig. 4)
Table 1
Machining conditions
Open voltage [V]
Discharge current [A]
Pulse duration [s]
Pulse interval [s]
Capacitor [F]
Distance between neighbor electrodes [mm]
Material of electrode
Size of electrode

120
50
2
100
0.1
0.8
Cu
10 mm 10 mm

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67

Fig. 2. Voltage and current waveforms of parallel spark EDM method using two electrodes.

Fig. 3. Voltage and current waveforms of parallel spark EDM method (simultaneous discharge).

which are the closest possible points to the gap to eliminate

the influence of electrode inductance. Fig. 5 shows current
and voltage waveforms measured when discharge occurred
simultaneously on both electrodes. In order to investigate
waveforms at the movement of breakdown in detail, the
waveform was enlarged along the time axis. Discharge occurred in electrode 1 first. The drop of the voltage and the
rise of the current in electrode 1 were observed at this moment. Meanwhile, it was found that the voltage waveform
of electrode 2 was influenced by the breakdown at electrode
1. Since electrodes 1 and 2 were parallel and closely placed,
the electromotive force is induced on electrode 2 due to
the change of the current through electrode 1. Taking into
account the influence of the induced electromotive force,
the transitional voltage of electrode 2 can be expressed as
follows:
u2 = u0 M

di1
dt

(1)

Tr.

Electrode1
Diode

Electrode2

Vcc
a

Workpiece
Fig. 4. Measurement of voltage.

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F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

Fig. 5. Voltage and current waveforms of parallel spark EDM method (simultaneous discharge).

where u0 is the open voltage, M is the mutual inductance

between electrodes 1 and 2, and i1 is the current through
electrode 1.
Right after the breakdown occurred in electrode 1, the rising speed of the current through electrode 1 was so fast that
the induced electromotive force M(di1 /dt) was the largest
at this moment, resulting in the sharp drop of the voltage of
electrode 2 from the open voltage. As the rising speed of the
current through electrode 1 decreases, the induced electromotive force also decreases, resulting in gradual increase in the
voltage of electrode 2. When the current through electrode 1
peaked, since the electromotive force M(di1 /dt) is zero at this
moment, the voltage of electrode 2 became equal to the open
voltage u0 . When discharge stopped, the decrease in the current through electrode 1 produced a negative electromotive
force, resulting in the rise of the voltage of electrode 2 over
the open voltage u0 . Thus, the electromotive force induced

by the discharge in electrode 1 triggered the breakdown in

electrode 2, which appears to be simultaneous discharges in
both electrodes.

4. Adaptive servo control for parallel spark EDM

Generally in order to keep the gap distance constant, adaptive servo feed control is used in conventional EDM, in which
the average working voltage is monitored and the electrode
feed rate is controlled so that the average working voltage in
the gap can be kept constant. However, in the case of parallel spark EDM, because multiple electrodes are used, it is
difficult to determine which working voltage of electrodes
should be monitored. In this study, the voltage at point d (see
Fig. 1) was monitored. Fig. 6 shows the voltage waveforms
of electrode 1, electrode 2 and point d. It was found that the

Fig. 6. Voltage waveforms of parallel spark EDM method.

F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

voltage at point d is always equal to the gap voltage which is

the lowest. That is, whenever electrode 1 or electrode 2 falls
into a short circuit with the workpiece, the voltage at point
d becomes zero. This means that the working voltage of the
electrode whose gap is minimum can be detected accurately
by monitoring the voltage at point d. Hence, by monitoring
the voltage at point d, the adaptive servo control for parallel
spark EDM can be carried out easily.

5. Machining characteristics using parallel spark EDM

method

Tr.

69

Electrode 1

Electrode 2

Vcc

5.1. Dispersion of discharge locations in parallel spark

EDM

Normal discharge frequency[kHz]

Fig. 8. Experimental setup of conventional EDM method using branched

two electrodes.

6
Normal discharge frequency[kHz]

In Section 3, it was found that simultaneous discharges occur easily in neighboring electrodes due to the induced electromotive force in parallel spark EDM. This fact indicates
that the discharge does not concentrate in one electrode, but
is distributed in all the electrodes uniformly. Hence, the parallel spark EDM method not only increases the machining
speed but also improves machining stability due to the dispersion of the discharge locations. Fig. 7 shows the change in
the normal discharge frequency with the lapse of time under
the condition that two electrodes are connected to the pulse
generator directly as shown in Fig. 8. Discharges are localized periodically and alternately in one of the pair electrodes.
Such phenomenon was also observed by Kojima et al. [7] using a discharge location detector. Based on the observation,
they presumed that the production of debris in one of the
pair electrodes decreases the breakdown strength, resulting
in enhanced localization of discharge locations in the same
electrode. In contrast, Fig. 9 shows the change in the discharge frequency with the lapse of time in the case of parallel
spark EDM. It was found that discharges occurred evenly in
both electrodes. Moreover, the total discharge frequency of
both electrodes was almost twice higher than that of the setup
shown in Fig. 8.

Workpiece

Electrode 1

Electrode 2
4
3
2
1
0
0

200

400

600

800

Time[s]
Fig. 9. Discharge frequency of parallel spark EDM method.

5.2. Removal rate using two electrodes

6
Electrode 1
Electrode 2

The machining speed was investigated using the parallel

spark EDM method when the electrode was divided into two
electrodes. The machining conditions are shown in Table 2.
To compare with conventional EDM, conventional machining using one electrode was also carried out in which the
working surface area was set the same with the total working

4
3
2
1
0
0

200

400

600

800

Time[s]
Fig. 7. Discharge frequency of conventional EDM method using branched
two electrodes.

Table 2
Machining conditions
Open voltage [V]
Discharge current [A]
Pulse duration [s]
Pulse interval [s]

120
50
2
100

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F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

Parallel electrode
Removal rate[mm3/min]

Single electrode
Removal rate[mm3/min]

2
1.5
1
0.5

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0

0
0

20

40

60

80

Servo reference voltage[V]

Electrode numbers
Fig. 12. Relationship between removal rate and electrode numbers.

Fig. 10. Relationship between removal rate and servo reference voltage.

surface area of the pair electrodes in the parallel spark EDM

method and the energy per pulse was adjusted equal to that
used in the parallel spark EDM method. The relationship between the removal rate and servo reference voltage is shown
in Fig. 10. When the servo reference voltage is higher, the
removal rate of both parallel spark EDM and conventional
EDM is almost the same. However, when the servo reference
voltage becomes lower, the removal rate of parallel spark
EDM becomes higher than that of conventional EDM. Especially, when the servo reference voltage becomes lower than
30 V, the removal rate of parallel spark EDM continues rising
while the removal rate of conventional EDM decreases.
5.3. Removal rate using more than two electrodes
Change in the removal rate was also investigated when
the number of divided electrodes was more than two. The
machining conditions were the same as those shown in
Table 2. The divided electrodes were lined up with a distance of 0.8 mm, and the total working surface area was kept
constant. Fig. 11 shows the relationship between normal

Fig. 11. Relationship between discharge frequency and electrode numbers.

discharge frequency and number of electrodes, and Fig. 12

shows the relationship between the removal rate and number of electrodes. It was found that the discharge frequency
increased as the number of electrodes was increased, resulting in increased removal rate. The removal rate obtained
with four electrodes was about 2.5 times faster than that obtained in conventional EDM. Ideally, the removal rate with
four electrodes should be four times higher than that with
one electrode. However, since discharge does not always
occur in all the electrodes during one charging cycle, the removal rate does not increase in proportion to the number of
electrodes.
5.4. Large area finishing using parallel
spark EDM method
In the large area finishing of conventional EDM, the area
of electrode is larger and the working gap is shorter. Hence,
the stray capacitance of the capacitors formed by the electrode and workpiece is significant due to the formula C =
(S/ l). (C: capacity, : permittivity of dielectric, S: area of
electrode, l: gap distance). Consequently, no matter how small
the current supplied from the pulse generator is restricted,
since the excessive current from the stray capacity flows in
the gap, it is difficult to obtain good surface roughness in
the large area finishing of conventional EDM. Here, dividing the large area electrode into multiple electrodes and using parallel spark EDM eliminate the influence of the stray
capacity, thus achieves good surface finish even in large area
finishing.
Thus, an electrode measuring 50 mm50 mm was divided
into four electrodes as shown in Fig. 13. Planetary motion
on the XY plane in radius of 4 mm was superimposed on
the tool feed in the Z-axis direction to prevent the generation of partition marks among the multiple electrodes, each
of which is formed by each divided tool electrode. Conventional EDM using one electrode measuring 50 mm 50 mm
was also carried out. In order to investigate the influence of
the stray capacity in conventional EDM, the energy per pulse
from the pulse generator was adjusted equal to that used in the

F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

71

25mm
0.8mm

25mm

Electrode
Y
X

Workpiece
Fig. 13. Large area finishing using parallel spark EDM method.

parallel spark EDM method by inserting the same capacitor

as the each one used in the parallel spark EDM method between the electrode and workpiece. Both parallel spark EDM
and conventional EDM were observed to be stable when a
long pulse interval was set. However, when the pulse interval
was set shorter than 30 s, the machining by conventional
EDM got unstable, while the parallel spark remained stable.
Fig. 14 shows photos of the machined surfaces obtained by
both methods. Compared with the surface obtained by parallel spark EDM, the surface finished by the conventional EDM
shows several thermal damage. Fig. 15 shows the surface
roughness results by both machining methods. The roughness (Ry 19 m) obtained by parallel spark EDM is better

Fig. 15. Results of surface roughness.

than that (Ry 25 m) obtained by conventional EDM. Consequently, use of parallel spark EDM in large area finishing
not only improves machining process stability, but machining speed, and surface roughness as well.

6. Conclusions
A new parallel spark EDM method was developed. The
experiments show that multiple discharges can be generated
one by one or simultaneously during a single charging with
this method. In addition, the discharge can be distributed over
all the electrodes uniformly, resulting in stable machining.
The experimental results obtained from the parallel spark
EDM and conventional EDM show this new method not only
improves machining process stability, but machining speed,
and surface roughness as well.
References

Fig. 14. Photos of finished surfaces.

[1] Kunieda M, Nakashima T. Factor determining discharge location in

EDM. Int J Electrical Machining 1998;3:53.
[2] Fujimoto R. The multi-circuit system electric discharge machining process. J Jpn Soc Electrical Machining Eng 1969;3(6):1 (in Japanese).

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F. Han, M. Kunieda / Precision Engineering 28 (2004) 6572

[3] Mohri N, Saito N, Takawashi T, Kobayashi K. Mirror-like finishing by

EDM. In: Proceedings of the 25th Machine Tool Design and Research
Conference; 1985. p. 329.
[4] Suzuki K, Mohri N, Uematsu T, Nakagawa T. ED truing method with
twin electrode. Preprint of Autumn Meeting of Japan Society for Precision Engineering, 575 (in Japanese).
[5] Kubota M, Tamura Y, Okita T. Electrocontact discharge dressing of
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Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium for Electromachining;

1989. p. 22.
[6] Kunieda M, Muto H. Development of multi-spark EDM. Ann CIRP
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[7] Kojima H, Kunieda M, Nishiwaki N. Understanding discharge location movements during EDM. Proc Int Symp Electromachining 1992;X:
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