Study on multi-cutting process of copper tungsten alloy tool electrode by WEDM

Copper tungsten alloy tool electrode has excellent processing performance in EDM, and WEDM multiple cutting is an important technical method for tool electrode manufacturing. The influence of the first cutting pulse width, peak current and servo voltage on the cutting speed was studied by response surface method, and the combined process parameters under the maximum cutting speed were optimized. On this basis, the influence of different cutting times on the machining quality of tool electrode was studied. The results showed that when the first cutting pulse width is 50 μs, the peak current is 12 A and the servo voltage is 12 V, the maximum cutting speed is 25.08 mm²/min. Moreover, the dimension error of one cutting is less than 10 μm and the surface roughness is Ra 2.582 μm. The dimension error of secondary cutting is less than 5 μm, the surface roughness is Ra 1.177 μm. The dimension error of three times cutting is less than 3 μm, the surface roughness is Ra 0.732 μm. With the increase of cutting times, the carbon deposited on the cutting surface increases, which helps to improve the low loss performance of the electrode.