(STL.News) Wire EDM is a common processing technology for custom metal parts, mainly used for the processing of molds, complex shapes or microstructures and other products. In CNC machining, we also often use this process. Due to its limitations, CNC machining is difficult to process parts with too fine shapes, high hardness, and high precision requirements. Then wire cutting can make up for it. For example, the parts are bent, the gap is narrow, and normal processing tools cannot be processed normally. Then wire cutting is required. Or the material has high hardness after heat treatment. As general CNC machining tools are difficult to process, wire EDM can be considered. For the processing of ultra-precision parts, wire cutting is also used due to the high-precision requirements that ordinary CNCs cannot achieve. So, what exactly is Wire EDM?

The so-called wire cutting, as the name implies, is to use a moving metal wire as the electrode wire, and pulse electric spark discharge between the electrode wire and the workpiece. The resulting high temperature causes the metal to melt or vaporize, forming slits and cutting parts. It is a method of EDM, and the process of cutting metal is as simple as cutting tofu with wire. When wire cutting, it can be rotated 360 degrees to cut any shape. The metal wire here is generally molybdenum wire or copper wire. Molybdenum wire has the characteristics of high strength, fast cutting speed, long service life and good discharge performance. It is usually used for wire cutting processing.

Wire EDM can be roughly divided into three types: high speed, medium speed, and low speed according to the cutting speed of the electrode wire. The main differences between these three include processing efficiency, cutting accuracy and surface quality. Among them, low-speed wire cutting has the highest technical content and the highest processing accuracy. Copper wire is usually used for low-speed wire cutting. The cost of low-speed wire cutting is the highest among these three types of wire cutting, and the processing time is also the longest.

The high-speed wire-cut electric discharge machine is named after the electrode wire runs at a high speed during the cutting process. The biggest advantage of high-speed wire EDM is its high cost performance. And there is a big market in China. The traditional fast wire cutting process adopts a one-time cutting process, the processing efficiency is about 40mm²/min, and the surface roughness is about Ra3.0um. There are obvious traces of wire cutting on the surface, and the processing accuracy is about 0.02mm.

In order to control costs while improving processing quality, machine tool manufacturers have made improvements on the basis of rapid wire cutting with reference to multiple cutting processes. Then came the so-called medium-speed wire-cut electric discharge machine. At present, the efficiency of one-time cutting of medium-speed wire cutting is about 180mm²/min. The surface roughness after multiple cuts is below Ra1.0um. The average efficiency after multiple cuts is 50mm²/min. There is no obvious cutting trace on the processed surface. The processing accuracy is about 0.01mm, and the electrode line loss is below 0.01mm/200,000mm².

Of course, the above data is for reference only. And due to different processing machines, different working fluid concentrations, different electrode wire wear conditions, and different processing quality.

It is not difficult to see from the above that wire-cut EDM has the following advantages:

Just as no process is perfect, wire EDM also has the following disadvantages:

The above is some basic knowledge about wire cutting. Viking has been focusing on CNC machining for many years and has a wealth of professional knowledge. Our professional team can use different processes to adapt to processing various parts and ensure high quality. We are always committed to helping every customer succeed in their new designs. If you have relevant requirements, please feel free to inquire.

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