Numerical simulation of titanium alloy machining in electric discharge machining process

XIE Bao-cheng^{1, 2}, WANG Yu-kui^{1, 2}, WANG Zhen-long^{1, 2}, ZHAO Wang-sheng³

(1. Key Laboratory of Micro-systems and Micro-structures Manufacturing of Ministry of Education,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China;
2. School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China;
3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China)

Abstract:An axisymmetric three-dimensional thermo-physical model for the electrical discharge machining of titanium alloy was developed using finite element method. To efficiently predict the temperature distribution and the material removal rate, the model considers some realistic parameters such as the plasma channel radius based on discharge current and discharge duration, the latent heat of melting and evaporation, the percentage of discharge energy transferred to the workpiece and Gaussian distribution of heat flux. Numerical simulation of the single spark discharge of titanium alloy machining in electric discharge machining process was carried out using software ANSYS. The effect of various process parameters on temperature distributions along the radius of the workpiece was reported. Finally, the model was validated through EDM experiments, showing that it can efficiently predict material removal rate.

Key words:titanium alloy; electrical discharge machining; thermo-physical model; finite element method