Model-Based Productivity Analysis Of Wire Edm For The Manufacturing Of Titanium

For the manufacturing of cost intensive high precision titanium parts for space applications, Wire EDM is without any appreciable alternative when it comes to filigree structures with high aspect ratio, as it allows machining independently of mechanical material properties like hardness or high temperature strength. Nevertheless, cost effectiveness is one of the key factors for guaranteeing a competitive position in high-wage markets like Western Europe. Therefore, an increase of productivity is crucial to maintain reasonable production costs whilst ensuring a consistent or even increasing quality of the part's surface. For that reason, this paper aims to present an analysis of cutting rate related process signal characteristics for Ti-6Al-4V in order to systematically increase productivity including the influence of different wire electrodes. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.