ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 15821588

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

An investigation of ultrasonic-assisted electrical discharge

machining in gas
Q.H. Zhanga,, R. Dub, J.H. Zhanga, Q.B. Zhanga
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
b
Department of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T. Hong Kong
Received 3 May 2005; received in revised form 5 September 2005; accepted 7 September 2005
Available online 28 November 2005

Abstract

This study focuses on using ultrasonic to improve the efciency in electrical discharge machining (EDM) in gas medium. The new
method is referred to as ultrasonic-assisted electrical discharge machining (UEDM). In the process of UEDM in gas, the tool electrode is
a thin-walled pipe, the high-pressure gas medium is applied from inside, and the ultrasonic actuation is applied onto the workpiece. In
our experiment, the workpiece material is AISI 1045 steel and the electrode material is copper. The experiment results indicate that (a)
the Material Removal Rate (MRR) is increased with respect to the increase of the open voltage, the pulse duration, the amplitude of
ultrasonic actuation, the discharge current, and the decrease of the wall thickness of electrode pipe; and (b) the surface roughness is
increased with respect to the increase of the open voltage, the pulse duration, and the discharge current. Based on experimental results, a
theoretical model to estimate the MRR and the surface roughness is developed.
r 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Machining; Electrical discharge machining (EDM); Ultrasonic-assisted electrical discharge machining (UEDM)

1. Introduction EDM has several advantages over the conventional

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a thermo-
electrical material removal process commonly practiced in
manufacturing shop oors today. The process of EDM, as
it is understood, can be divided into four stages: (a)
application of electrical energy, (b) dielectric breakdown,
(c) sparking and (d) expulsion (erosion) of workpiece
material [1]. From a physical point of view, the EDM
process converts the electrical energy into the thermal
energy through a series of repetitive electrical discharges
between the tool electrode and the workpiece electrode [2].
As the electrical energy and the electrode can be precisely
controlled, the EDM process is marked with high precision
and reliability. The use of dielectric liquid has been
regarded as indispensable for the stability and efciency
of the process, because it serves as a cooling medium in the
discharge gap and removed and ushed machining debris
out of the working gap.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 5318 8392850.
E-mail address: zhangqh@sdu.edu.cn (Q.H. Zhang).
machining in handling workpiece with complex shapes and
hard workpiece materials. Hence, it is often used in
machining plastic moulds, stamping dies, and the parts
made of carbide materials [37]. However, it also has a
number of disadvantages. These include environment
pollution and being harmful to the operators [8]. In general
dielectric liquid is kerosene-based oil, during the process of
EDM it will decompose and release harmful vapor (CO
and CH4). In recent years, much research has been
conducted to overcome these disadvantages.
EDM in gas was rst proposed by Kunieda [9]. In this
method, EDM is carried out in gas. But there are two
major problems in this method: rst it is not very stable,
and second, it has very low material removal rate (MRR).
A number of studies of EDM in gas have followed [10,11].
In [12], the basic theory was explored. In [13], experimental
investigations were conducted to nd the inuence of
different parameters on MRR.
Ultrasonic-assisted machining is another method of
nontraditional machining. It uses ultrasonic actuation,
either on the tool or on the workpiece, to improve the

0890-6955/$ - see front matter r 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2005.09.023
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Q.H. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 15821588 1583

MRR. There have been a large number of papers on
ultrasonic-assisted machining. A recent study with theore-
tical analysis and experiment validation is shown in [14,15].
This paper presents a new method, called ultrasonic-
assisted electric discharge machining (UEDM) in gas. It is
actually a combination of EDM in gas and ultrasonic
vibration. The rest of the paper is divided into four
sections. Section 2 presents the basic theory and simple
models for MRR and surface nish. Section 3 presents the
experiment results with comparisons to theoretical predic-
tion. Finally, Section 4 contains the conclusions.
2. The theoretical analysis
2.1. The basic principle of UEDM in gas
guaranteeing the recovery of the dielectric strength of the
gap.
2.2. The model for MRR
In order to derive the models for the UEDM in gas,
following assumptions are made:
(a) The EDM process is carried out through a series of
pulses. Each pulse makes one spark.
(b) The shape of the crater formed by a single spark in the
UEDM is spherical crest and the radius of spherical
crest is R.
(c) The ignition delay time is constant and is very short
compared with the discharge time.
(d) All effective discharge voltage waveforms are the same.

Fig. 1 is an illustration of UEDM in gas. It is essentially As shown in Fig. 2, each spark cycle, T s , is given by
EDM in gas with ultrasonic actuation on workpiece. As T s ts ti , (1)
required in EDM in gas, in UEDM the gap between tool
electrode and workpiece is small (about 0.01 mm), and the where ti is the idling time and ts is the pulse duration, which
voltage is high so that the short circuit can take place. In is made of two parts: the ignition delay time, td, the
order to improve the MRR, it is necessary to avoid discharge duration time, te:
constant short circuit. Therefore, a new measure, a ts td te . (2)
rotation, has been introduced. As a result, the tool
Based on above assumptions, the energy of each spark can
electrode has the rotation motion as shown in the gure.
be calculated by integration [16]:
The ultrasonic actuation is applied to the workpiece. Its Z te
basic idea is to move the molten workpiece material out
Ed W t dt, (3)
from the base of the workpiece so that it will not reattach 0
to the base again. The electrode is a thin-walled pipe and where te is the discharge duration time and W t is the
the high-pressure gas is applied through the internal hole, power supplied for each spark dened below
which ows over the machining gap with a high velocity.
This enhances the removal of molten and evaporated W t I e tU e t, (4)
workpiece material. The high-velocity gas also cools and where Ue is the discharge voltage and Ie is the current.
solidies the removed material and prevents them from Substitute Eq. (4) into Eq. (3), it follows that
adhering onto the surface of the tool electrode. Further- Z te
more, during the pulse interval, the gas with a high velocity Ed I e tU e t dt. (5)
blows off the plasma formed by the previous discharge and 0
decreases the temperatures of the discharge spots on the According to Assumption (c), the ignition delay time, td, is
tool electrode and the workpiece due to heat transfer, thus small. Hence, the discharge energy for one spark is

Fig. 1. Illustration of EDM in gas with ultrasonic actuation on workpiece. Fig. 2. Illustration of voltage and current variation in a pulse.
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approximately
Z ts
Ed I e tU e t dt. (6)
0

This energy converts to material removed:

Z ts
V s Z1 I e tU e t dt, (7)
0

where Vs is the volume of material removed by a single

spark and Z1 is the proportional constant.
Suppose the total time, Ttot, of the UEDM process is
T tot nT s nts ti . (8) Fig. 3. Illustration of the surface roughness formation of UEDM in gas.

The total material removed (Vtot) is the summation of the

volume of the material removed by all single sparks:
V tot nV s .
Substituting Eq. (7) into Eq. (9) yields
Z ts
V tot nZ1 I e tU e t dt.
0 of the spherical crest R. Assuming H 0:15D, Eq. (16)
Hence, the material removal rate, M, is
Rt
V tot Z1 0s I e tU e t dt
M .
T tot ts ti
In addition, as shown in Fig. 2, since the discharge pulses
are square pulses, the discharge current is given by,
I e t I e ; n
1ts ti ptpnts n
1ts , (12)
I e t 0; n
1ti nts ptpnts ti . (13)
Eq. (11) can be simplied as
Z1 I e U e ts
M .
ts ti
2.3. The model for surface roughness
The surface roughness of a workpiece affects the quality
of the workpice in a number of ways, such as the wear
resistance, the assembling accuracy, the rigidity, the
resistance of erosion and so on. For UEDM in gas, the
main parameters to affect the surface roughness are pulse
duration, discharge voltage and discharge current.
Experiments indicated that the crater shape formed by a
single spark is a spherical crest with radius R (Assumption
(b)) and the average diameter of the cavity is D (refer to
Section 3). This is illustrated in Fig. 3(a). Accordingly, the
volume of the spherical crest is
The nished surface results from a series of spherical
(9) crests as shown in Fig. 3(b). Experiments indicated that the
ratio of the depth of the spherical crest H to the average
diameter of cavity D was about 0.10.2. The average
(10) diameter of cavity D was approximately equal to the radius
becomes:
R ts !1=3
(11) Z1 I e tU e t dt
H 0
. (17)
6:24p
Substituting Eqs. (12) and (13) into Eq. (17), it follows that

1=3
Z1 I e U e t s
H . (18)
6:24 p
Eq. (18) can be used to estimate the surface roughness. It
(14)
indicates that the surface roughness is dependent on the
discharge voltage, the discharge current and the pulse
duration. As shown in Fig. 3(b), during the process of
UEDM in gas, with the move of the electrode, a series of
crater spheres are generated. The depth of the crest, H, is
not the value of the roughness. In fact, the spots of
discharge are dispersed in time and space under normal
condition of electrical discharge, and the craters are
intervened and overlapped, as shown in Fig. 3. The real
depth of the crest in the nished surface, which determine
the roughness Ra, is a. From microscope observation, a is
about one third of H. So the surface roughness, Ra, can be
shown that:
Ra x1 I e U e ts 1=3 , (19)

V s 13 pH 2 3R
H, (15) where x1 is the proportional constant.

Comparing Eqs. (14) and (19), it is interesting to known
where H is the depth of the spherical crest. Substituting that the MRR and surface roughness are conicting
Eq. (15) into Eq. (7) results in the following: quantities: The increase of MRR will cause the decrease
Z ts of the surface roughness and vice versa. In other words, it
1 is not possible to gain on both MRR and good surface
Z1 I e tU e t dt pH 2 3R
H. (16)
0 3 roughness at the same time.
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3. Experimental setup and results
3.1. The experimental apparatus
The experiments were conducted on a custom made
UEDM machine, whose worktable was modied to
accommodate the ultrasonic vibration unit and the
clamping unit of the machine was made to accommodate
the high-pressure gas. The tool electrode was a cylindrical
pipe whose outer and inner diameters were varied. The
high-pressure gas went through the pipe entering into
working gap. The gas was air. In order to eliminate the
effect of the moisture in the compressed gas, a gas drier was
installed between the compressor and the regulator. The
workpiece material was AISI 1045 steel and the tool
electrode was copper. In experiment, the tool electrode was
rotated, and ultrasonic vibration was applied to workpiece.
The ultrasonic generator was custom made also, which
had a maximum power of 100 W with an adjustable
frequency ranging 1723 kHz. During the experiments, the
frequency was set at 20.3 kHz. The amplitudes of ultrasonic
actuation in idling were 0.006 mm at 50 W and 0.012 mm at
100 W. The pressure of the gas could be changed from 10 to
500 kPa. The open voltage could also be changed from 100
to 300 V in increment of 20 V. The transistor pulse
generator power supply was custom made. It transformed
the AC supply from the mains and provided a rectangular
voltage waveform as shown in Fig. 3.
As pointed out in the previous section, the amount of
material removed from the workpiece depends on the
characteristics of the discharge voltage, current and time.
The time interval between switching the generator on and
off is the pulse duration (ts) while the time interval between
switching the generator off and on for the next pulse is the
idling time (ti). The ignition delay time (td) is the period of
time during which the voltage remains at the value of the
ignition voltage while the current stays at zero. When the
spark ignites, the voltage drops. The mean voltage value
from ignition to power-off is the discharge voltage (Ue).
The current rises sharply following ignition. The mean
value of the current from ignition phase to power-off phase
is the discharge current (Ie).
The depth of cut was measured with a dial gauge with an
accuracy of 0.001 mm and then the MRR was calculated as
the multiplication of the cross-sectional area and the depth
of cut. The surface roughness was measured using a
Talysurf 4 surface measuring instrument with a relative
accuracy of 5%.
3.2. Experiment results
3.2.1. The experiment results on MRR
Five sets of experiments were carried out to show the
effects of open voltage, pulse duration, wall thickness of
pipe electrode, amplitude of ultrasonic vibration and
discharge current on the MRR. The experimental setups
are summarized in Table 1.
Fig. 4 shows that the MRR increases with the increase of
open voltage. Fig. 5 shows that MRR increases with the
increase of the discharge current. Fig. 6 shows the MRR
increases with the increase of the pulse during. These
results are expected and match the theoretical data (Eq.
(14) with Z1 2:6  10
3 ) well. Note that the theoretical
data always tend to give a higher estimation because it does
not take disturbances into consideration. Also, the largest
error occurs when the discharge current is the maximum.
At this time, molten materials could not be removed
quickly enough resulting in a decrease in MRR. This is not
counted in the theoretical model.

Table 1
The experimental conditions

Experiment no. Open voltage (V) Pulse duration (ms) Wall thickness Actuation Discharge current Gas pressure
(mm) amplitude (mm) (A) (kPa)

1 100, 145, 600 0.3 12 20 500

180, 220,
275
2 220 50, 100, 0.3 12 20 500
150, 200,
250, 300,
350, 600,
800
3 220 600 0.3, 0.4, 12 20 500
0.5, 0.8,
1.0, 2.0,
3.0
4 220 600 0.3 6, 12 20 500
5 220 600 0.3 12 15,20,25, 500
30,35,40
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Fig. 4. The effect of open voltage on MRR.
Fig. 5. The effect of discharge current on MRR.
Fig. 6. The of effect of pulse duration on MRR.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of wall thickness of the pipe
electrode on MRR(the outer diameter of the tool electrode
is 10 mm). The increase of the wall thickness causes the
MRR to decrease. It should be noticed that the MRR
increases drastically when the wall becomes thinner than
Fig. 7. The effect of wall thickness of the pipe electrode on MRR.
Fig. 8. The effect of amplitude of ultrasonic vibration on MRR.
the diameter of the discharge crater. This may be attributed
to the fact that the high-velocity gas ow removes most of
the molten workpiece at the discharge spot when the wall is
thinner. However, when the wall is much thicker than
diameter of the discharge crater, the MRR decreases
because the gas ow cannot remove the molten workpiece,
which will then reattach to the workpiece surface.
Fig. 8 shows that the MRR increases with the increase of
amplitude of ultrasonic vibration. This is because the
workpiece vibration at the ultrasonic frequency shakes
off the molten workpiece materials, and hence, helps to
improve MRR. In other words, the ultrasonic actuation is
helpful.
3.2.2. The experiment results on surface roughness
Three sets of experiments were carried out to show the
effects of open voltage, pulse duration and discharge
current on the surface roughness. Fig. 9 shows that the
surface roughness increases with the increase of the pulse
duration. Fig. 10 shows that the surface roughness in-
creases with the increase of the discharge current. Fig. 11
shows that the surface roughness increases with the
increase of open voltage. These results are expected and
matched the theoretical calculation (Eq. (19) with x1
3:5  10
2 ) well. From these gures, two observations can
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Q.H. Zhang et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 46 (2006) 15821588
Fig. 9. Comparison of effect of pulse duration.
Fig. 10. Comparison of effect of discharge current.
Fig. 11. Comparison of effect of open voltage.
be made. First, among the three factors, the open voltage
has the minimum effect. This is because it is used to
breakdown the gas medium. With the ultrasonic actuation,
it is easier for the gas medium to break. Second, the
theoretical calculation tends to give better estimation, as it
does not disturbances into consideration.
3.2.3. Comparison on the MRR with the same
surface roughness
With the same surface roughness Ra 0.0034 mm, a
comparison on the MRR of the three EDM processes (i.e.,
1587
Fig. 12. The MRR of different machining method.
EDM in kerosene, EDM in gas and UEDM in gas) is
shown in Fig. 12. From the gure, it is seen that the MRR
of UEDM in gas is about two times of the MRR of EDM
in gas with the same machining condition. Based on the
experiment results above, it is clear that the effectiveness of
EDM in gas can be improved with the help of ultrasonic
actuation although it is still less than the EDM. Also,
considering the fact that UEDM in gas will create no
pollution, little waste materials and can be used without
direction limitation, it is safe to say UEDM in gas will have
a practical value in the near future should the process be
continuously improved.
4. Conclusion
This paper presents a new process, called the Ultrasonic
assisted Electric Discharge Machining (UEDM) in gas.
Based on the discussions above, following conclusions can
be drawn:
(a) UEDM in gas is a useful process. Its material removal
rate (MRR) is nearly twice as much as EDM in gas,
though is less than that of conventional EDM.
(b) UEDM in gas is affected by at least ve factors: open
voltage, discharge current, discharge duration, the wall
thickness of the pipe electrode, and the amplitude of
the ultrasonic actuation. Among these factors, the
discharge current and the pulse duration are the most
signicant. Though, the wall thickness of the pipe
electrode is also important, as it affects removal of
molten workpiece material.
(c) In the process of UEDM in gas, the increase of MRR is
at the expense of surface roughness.
Acknowledgements
The work is partially supported by a grant from the
Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No.
50575128) and a grant from Aoyagi (Hong Kong) Ltd. and
Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund (Grant No.
UIM/122).
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