ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 16861694

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

Surface quality improvement of wire-EDM using a

ne-nish power supply
Mu-Tian Yan, Yi-Peng Lai
Department of Mechatronic Engineering, Huafan University, No. 1, Huafan Road, Shihtin Hsiang, 223 Taipei Hsien, Taiwan, ROC
Received 28 August 2006; received in revised form 4 January 2007; accepted 12 January 2007
Available online 6 February 2007

Abstract

This paper presents the development and application of a new ne-nish power supply in wire-EDM. The transistor-controlled power
supply composed of a full-bridge circuit, two snubber circuits and a pulse control circuit was designed to provide the functions of anti-
electrolysis, high frequency and very-low-energy pulse control. Test results indicated that the pulse duration of discharge current can be
shortened through the adjustment of capacitance in parallel with the sparking gap. High value of capacitance contributes to longer
discharge duration. A high current-limiting resistance results in the decrease of discharge current. Peak current increases with the
increase of pulse on-time and thus contributes to an increase in thickness of recast layer. Experimental results not only verify the
usefulness of the developed ne-nish power supply in eliminating titaniums bluing and rusting effect and reducing micro-cracking in
tungsten carbide caused by electrolysis and oxidation, but also demonstrate that the developed system can achieve a ne surface nish as
low as 0.22 mm Ra.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Wire-EDM; Anti-electrolysis; Fine-nish power supply; Surface roughness

1. Introduction caused by each individual spark. The removal per pulse is

Since the introduction of CNC wire electrical discharge
machining (wire-EDM) machines to the market in the
1970s, the continuous development of machinery, CNC
system, power supply, wire electrodes and process technol-
ogy have enabled the wire-EDM process to be widely
applied not only in tool and die-making industry, but also
in the elds of medicine, electronics and the automotive
industry. The proting with wire-EDM is its ability to
precisely produce intricate shapes and varying tapers in all
electrically conductive materials irrespective of their hard-
ness and toughness. Furthermore, wire-EDM is capable of
producing a ne, precise, corrosion-resistant and wear-
resistant surface. Machined surface produced by the wire-
EDM process consists of many craters resulting from the
vaporization and melting of a small amount of material
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 2 26632102x4027;
fax: +886 2 26633173.
E-mail address: mtyan@huafan.hfu.edu.tw (M.-T. Yan).
related to the energy of each discharge pulse, which
depends on the product of the discharge voltage, peak
current and the pulse duration of discharge current. The
discharge voltage is kept almost constant during machin-
ing. Therefore, the discharge energy is almost dependent on
the peak current and the pulse duration of discharge
current. Higher peak current and longer pulse duration
result in larger craters and thus achieves higher metal
removal rate and rough surface. After each spark, a
quantity of molten material will be drawn back into the
spark crater by surface tension and cooling effect. This
resolidied material results in the recast layer of the wire-
EDMed surface. Since deionized water is used as a
dielectric liquid and the wire electrode has a negative
polarity in wire-EDM, direct current passing through
water causes ions to react chemically with the machined
part and an electrolytic effect increases the chemical
erosion effect of the water dielectric. The recast layer
accompanied by the electrolytic and corrosive effect can
cause cracking, pitting or aking of the machined surface,

0890-6955/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2007.01.006
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
M.-T. Yan, Y.-P. Lai / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 16861694
a decrease of fatigue strength and an increase of surface
roughness and hence contributing to the degradation of
surface integrity and premature failure of the machined
part.
In order to reduce the electrolytic current during erosion
and to obtain better surface quality, some studies using
lower-conductivity deionized water through the ionization
of distilled water have been presented [13]. Some machine
tool builders have developed new pulse generators using
water dielectrics and anti-electrolysis circuitry to achieve
high-quality surface machining and high-accuracy machin-
ing [411]. Wire-EDM machines equipped with multi-
generators have also been presented to supply high energy
to the machining gap during roughing and lower energy for
nish machining while connecting the wire electrode to the
positive pole [12]. A new supernishing circuit has been
proposed to decrease the attractive force between the wire
electrode and the workpiece and this results in a better
straightness of the workpiece and better surface quality on
the nished surface without streaks or waviness [13]. To
obtain good surface roughness, a DC pulse-generating
circuit of positive polarity (wire electrode is set as anode)
has been presented for nish machining [14]. It is well
known that resistancecapacitance (RC) circuitry has been
commonly employed in micro-EDM since it can easily
achieve a low discharge peak current within a short period
of time [15]. However, the property of the uncontrolled
discharge duration prevents further improvement of
cutting surfaces. A new transistor-type isopulse generator
was therefore developed using a current sensor with high-
frequency response to achieve uniform discharge energy for
each discharge spark as well as to improve the machining
characteristics of micro-EDM [16].
As demands on ne surface nish and better surface
integrity in manufacturing industry, grows and becomes
stringent there is an increasing need for ne-nish power
supply in wire-EDM to provide high-frequency and very-
low-energy pulses as well as to suppress the phenomenon of
electrolysis. This paper presents a new ne-nish power
supply in wire-EDM. The power supply can reduce the
electrolytic effect by reversing the polarity during machin-
ing as well as providing high-frequency and very-low-
energy pulses by using transistor-controlled RC-type
circuitry. By means of the power supply, the relationships
between generator parameters and peak current were
M2 M3
V C
110V
M1 M4
R1
Pulse Control
Signal MOSFET
Driver
Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of the developed ne-nish power supply for wire-EDM.
1687
analyzed quantitatively. Experimental verication of the
developed pulse generator for the improvement of surface
quality in wire-EDM is shown. The developed power
supply can achieve a 0.22 mm Ra surface nish through four
nishing operations with proper machining settings.
2. Fine-nish power supply for wire-EDM
2.1. Design of transistor-controlled fine-finish power supply
Fig. 1 shows a circuit diagram of the developed ne-
nish power supply for wire-EDM. The power supply
composed of a full-bridge circuit, two snubber circuits and
an iso-frequency pulse control circuit can provide both
high-frequency and very-low-energy pulses by using
transistor-controlled RC-type circuitry. The developed
transistor-controlled power supply was designed to reduce
the anodic oxidation of workpiece material due to
electrolytic effect by reversing the wire electrode polarity
during erosion and thus, the average gap voltage is held at
zero and the discharge current is switched from DC to AC.
The workpiece, therefore, is protected from corrosion and
rusting. The full-bridge circuit consists of a negative
polarity discharge circuit and a positive polarity discharge
circuit driven by MOSFET M1 and M3, and M2 and M4,
respectively. Correspondingly, the two snubber circuits
driven by MOSFET M5 and M6 have the duty to absorb an
excessive discharge energy stored in the sparking gap for
positive polarity and negative polarity discharge circuit,
respectively. In this paper, polarity refers to the wire
electrodes polarity and thus, the negative polarity is
specied when the wire electrode is connected to the
negative pole. Two snubber circuits were designed to
absorb an excessive discharge energy stored into the
discharging path as well as to protect the pulse control
circuit from electrical and electromagnetic interference. As
depicted in Fig. 1, the current-limiting resistor R1 in serial
with the discharge circuit was designed to adjust the peak
current. The capacitor C in parallel with the sparking gap
was designed to adjust the pulse duration of discharge
current. Fig. 2 illustrates the timing chart of the pulse
control signals and associated pulse trains of wire-EDM.
P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6 are the pulse control signals of the
MOSFET M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6, respectively. Pulse
on-time of negative polarity tin is a time period when the
R2
Voltage Probe
M5 M6
Workpiece Oscilloscope
Current
Probe
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pulse control signals P1 and P3 remain high. Pulse off-time a short duration of discharge current. After each discharge,
of negative polarity ton is a time period when the pulse the MOSFET M1 and M3 are turned off, and the
control signal P5 remains high. Correspondingly, tip and top MOSFET M5 is turned on through the pulse control signal
represent pulse on-time and pulse off-time of positive of P5, an excessive discharge energy stored into the
polarity, respectively. When the MOSFET M1 and M3 are inductive part of the negative polarity discharging path is
turned on through the pulse control signals P1 and P3, directed to the resistor R2. For the positive discharge
respectively, the capacitor C is charged through the resistor circuit, when the MOSFET M2 and M4 are turned on
R1 by supplying a DC voltage of 110 V and discharged through the pulse control signals of P2 and P4, respectively,
between the wire electrode and workpiece while producing the spark occurs and generating current ows from the wire
electrode to the workpiece. During the off-time period of
tin ton tip top positive polarity, an excessive discharge energy stored into
the sparking gap is also directed through control MOSFET
M6 to the resistor R2. If the excessive energy remains in the
sparking gap and is not to be drained out by means of the
P1 ,P3
snubber circuits, it could appear instability to the dischar-
ging as well as cause damage to the internal circuit of the
power supply. For example, when the snubber circuit of
P5 positive polarity is removed from the power supply, during
the off-time period of positive polarity, excessive discharge
Pulse Control
Signals
energy was stored into the sparking gap. If spark occurs
during the pulse on-time period of negative polarity, high
generating current of more than 7 A resulting from
P2 ,P4
excessive discharge power stored in the sparking gap ows
through the discharge circuit and causes damage to the
P6 fuse, MOSFET M1 and M3 of the power supply. In order
to reduce the oscillation of discharge current due to effect
of wire inductance in the discharging path, the length of
wire between the discharge gap and the snubber circuits
was chosen as short as possible.
Fig. 3 demonstrates the schematic diagram of the pulse
control circuit and drive circuit. As shown in Fig. 3, a
Gap
Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), which
Voltage allows easy modication of the design, clocked by a
20 MHz crystal oscillator is employed to generate the pulse
control signals. The drive circuit consists of two optocou-
plers, a level shifting circuit and a high-speed driver. The
optocouplers are used to transmit the CPLD-level data to the
level shifting circuit without being concerned about incom-
Gap
Current patible or harmful voltage levels. The level shifting circuit is
used to provide high current and voltage levels necessary to
drive the power MOSFETs from the output signals of the
Fig. 2. Timing chart of the pulse control signals and associated pulse optocouplers. The driver provides the function of driving the
trains of wire-EDM. power MOSFETs at the desired frequency.

Oscillator

CPLD
Divider
Drive Circuit

Discharge Signal Level Shifting Pulse Control

Power Setting Counter Optocouplers Driver
Control Circuit Signal

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the pulse control circuit and drive circuit.
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2.2. Pulse waveform analysis
The shape of gap voltage and current waveforms
depends on the type of pulse generators. Through the
pulse waveform analysis, the developed power supply was
veried and evaluated. Fig. 4 shows the gap voltage and
current waveforms of the four basic wire-EDM gap states,
which were collected by a high-speed digital oscilloscope
and a current probe system during the nishing operation
of wire-EDM. As shown in Fig. 4, gap states are classied
as open circuit, normal spark, arc discharge and short
circuit by means of the level of gap voltage and discharge
current. Open circuits occur when the gap width is too
large so there is no current conduction through the gap and
thus, the gap voltage is alternating and the discharge
current is zero as shown in Fig. 4(a). Short circuits occur
Fig. 4. Gap voltage and current waveforms of the four basic wire-EDM gap states: (a) open circuit, (b) short circuit, (c) normal spark and (d) arc
discharge.
1689
when the electrode makes physical contact with the
workpiece and therefore, the gap voltage is zero and the
discharge current is alternating. Timing chart of the pulse
control signals for short circuit is the same as that of other
gap states. During the off-time period for different
polarities, electric current of short circuit is delivered
through the snubber circuit because of excessive discharge
energy stored in the sparking gap. Since the developed
power supply can provide positive and negative voltages
between the wire electrode and the workpiece, the gap
current of short circuit is alternating as shown in Fig. 4(b).
Fig. 4(c) shows a normal spark with positive polarity
determined when the instantaneous gap voltage is higher
than 80 V and the discharge current has a peak current of
4.5 A with three oscillations. An arc discharge is discrimi-
nated by a lower instantaneous gap voltage of 50 V and
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Fig. 5. Inuence of the capacitance on discharge current waveforms: (a) C 1 nF, (b) C 5 nF and (c) C 10 nf.

M.-T. Yan, Y.-P. Lai / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 16861694
a lower peak current of 3.5 A with small oscillation in
comparison with those of a normal spark as illustrated in
Fig. 4(d).
Fig. 5 shows the inuence of the capacitance on
discharge current waveforms. When the value of the
capacitance C is set to 1 nF, the discharge current has
discharge duration of 120 ns compared with discharge
duration of 160 ns for the capacitance of 5 nF and
discharge duration of 180 ns for the capacitance of 10 nF.
This is because higher value of capacitance results in higher
discharge energy in the sparking gap when the discharge
voltage is kept almost constant during erosion and thus
contributes to longer pulse duration of discharge current.
As shown in Fig. 5(c), there exist two sparks during the on-
time period of positive polarity when the value of
capacitance is set to 10 nF. An arc discharge occurs after
a normal spark because the spark gap is still charged with a
high-voltage potential during the on-time period and the
dielectric uid is not completely deionized. It also can be
seen from Fig. 5 that the discharge duration is the same,
but the peak current is slightly different for each polarity
under the condition of a xed value of capacitance. The
reason for the different peak currents for different
polarities is that wire resistances of the positive and
negative polarity discharge circuit are not exactly the
same. This gure indicates that short discharge duration
can be obtained through the adjustment of capacitance in
the discharge circuit and hence the discharge energy can be
kept small.
3. Experimental method
A wire-EDM machine with a PC-based controller
developed by local machine tool builder, Jiann Sheng
Machinery & Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is employed.
This machine consists of an anti-electrolysis power supply,
a dielectric generation system, a computer numerical
control system, a wire transport system, a ve-axis motion
system and a ushing device. To supply high-frequency and
low-energy pulses, the anti-electrolysis power supply
equipped with the commercial wire-EDM machine has
been replaced by the developed ne-nish wire-EDM
1.8
1.6
1.4
Peak current (A)
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 1
Fig. 6. Relation between the pulse on-time and the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to zero.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
1691
power supply during nish machining. Based on the
circuitry of the developed ne-nish power supply,
machining results using AC power supply or DC power
supply of negative polarity can be obtained by one set of
power switches. For comparison purpose, the DC power
supply of negative polarity is also employed in the
experiments. Brass wire with a diameter of 0.25 mm is
used as the wire electrode. Tool steel SKD11, titanium
alloy and tungsten carbide are used as the workpiece
materials. Titanium is a light weight yet strong material
used primarily in the aerospace and medical industries.
Tungsten carbide is an extremely hard material used
extensively in manufacturing because of its superior wear
and corrosion resistance. The relations between the
generator parameters (including current-limiting resistance
and pulse on-time) and the peak current were experimen-
tally obtained and analyzed. All the experiments were
conducted under the conditions of, a pulse off-time of 1 ms,
a wire tension of 1700 gf, a wire feed of 5 mm/min and a
water resistivity of 100 kO cm. Analysis of 2D workpiece
surface topography was performed using a Taylor Sur-
tronic surface prolometer. Microstructural evaluation
utilized a Hitachi S-2150 scanning electron microscope
(SEM) and a Nikon MM-11 optical microscope tted with
a charge couple device (CCD) video camera.
4. Results and discussion
Fig. 6 shows the relation between the pulse on-time and
the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to
zero. Without the capacitance, the discharge circuit for
each polarity during the pulse on-time period can be
regarded as a resistanceinductance (RL) circuit. Accord-
ing to basic circuit theory, loop current increases exponen-
tially to a steady-state level limited by the current-limiting
resistance R1 for a xed supply voltage of 110 V. Therefore,
the peak current increases slightly with the pulse on-time.
The peak current is as low as 0.7 A when the pulse on-time
is 1 ms for a xed current-limiting resistance of 20 O. Under
such power condition, the discharge frequency is as high as
500 kHz since both the pulse on-time and pulse off-time is
1 ms. When the value of the capacitance is set to zero, the
Current-limiting resistance 10
Current-limiting resistance 15
Current-limiting resistance 20
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pulse on-time (s)
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1692 M.-T. Yan, Y.-P. Lai / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 16861694

relation between the current-limiting resistance and the Fig. 11 shows a comparison between the surface of
peak current is shown in Fig. 7. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the tungsten carbide machined by ne-nish power supply and
higher the current-limiting resistance, the lower the peak DC power supply. As depicted in the left side of Fig. 11,
current. Fig. 8 shows the effect of peak current on the deionized waters faster quenching gives the surface of
recast layer of tool steel SKD11. As shown in Fig. 8, it can tungsten carbide a granular appearance. The surface of
be clearly seen that 13 mm thick recast layer and its
thickness increases with the increase of the peak current.
Finished surfaces produced in a water dielectric commonly a
used in wire-EDM process tend to have a lower hardness
than the parent material because of anode oxidation. This
anodic oxidation along with electrolysis can release or
deplete carbon, cobalt and other materials surface. In
addition, copper atoms that have been released from the
brass wire can be assimilated into the exposed surface of
the workpiece material, further contributing to alloying
process and softening the parent materials [17]. Ip = 0.7A
Fig. 9 shows the machined surface of titanium alloy
when three slits were machined by ne-nish power supply b
and DC power supply. As shown in Fig. 9(b), the surface of
titanium machined by DC power supply turns blue and
rusty because of oxidation along with electrolysis. This
bluing effect can cause the degradation of surface quality,
premature failure of the machined part and thus prohibit-
ing increased use of wire-EDMing in medical and aero-
space applications. The developed ne-nish power supply
can prevent machined surface of titanium alloy from
Ip = 1.2A
turning blue and rusting as shown in Fig. 9(a). Fig. 10
shows the cross-section view of titanium surface machined c
by ne-nish power supply and DC power supply. Because
of oxidation and electrolysis, machined surface of titanium
turns blue and has an oxidized layer with some micro-
cracks are these indicate surface damage when using DC
power supply. Although the oxidized layer can be removed
with secondary machining operations, those operations can
affect overall accuracy of the machined part. The devel-
oped ne-nish power supply can prevent the oxidation of
Ip = 2.3A
titanium are can also eliminate the oxidized layer and thus
contributes to lowering polishing time and attendant cost Fig. 8. Effect of peak current on the recast layer of tool steel SKD11: (a)
because of less surface degradation. Ip 0.7 A, (b) Ip 1.2 A and (c) Ip 2.3 A.

2.5

2
Peak current (A)

1.5

1 Pulse on-time = 1 s

Pulse on-time = 4 s
0.5
Pulse on-time = 7 s
0
5 10 15 20
Current-limiting Resistance ()

Fig. 7. Relation between the current-limiting resistance and the peak current when the value of the capacitance is set to zero.
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tungsten carbide machined by DC power supply has micro-
cracks and defects as depicted in the right side of Fig. 11.
Tungsten carbide is a power metal comprising tungsten
particles and other metal powders held together with cobalt
as the binder and is obtained compacting or sintering.
When DC voltage and current are supplied by a DC power
supply during the wire-EDM process, the cobalt binder is
seriously damaged and broken due to the electrolysis and
oxidation. With less binder holding the tungsten together,
the cobalt binder and tungsten particles are separated.
These exposed tungsten particles can cause cobalt depletion
and micro-cracking, thus can lead to premature part or
tool failure [17]. As shown in the right side of Fig. 11,
tungsten carbide suffers surface degradation as a result of
cobalt binder depletion caused by electrolysis and oxida-
tion when using DC power supply. Nevertheless, the ne-
nish power supply can reduce electrolytic damage and
corrosion to the tungsten carbide. Fig. 12 shows the SEM
micrographs of tungsten carbide surface machined by using
ne-nish power supply and DC power supply. The surface
of tungsten carbide machined by DC power supply depicts
many micro-cracks caused by cobalt depletion. However,
the ne-nish power supply can reduce damage to the
surface of tungsten carbide by providing high-frequency
and very-low-energy pulses.
Having demonstrated the usefulness of the ne-nish
power supply in eliminating the bluing of titanium and the
cobalt depletion of tungsten carbide caused by the
electrolytic effect when using deionized water as a dielectric
liquid, experiments of nishing operation using the
developed pulse generator were conducted to achieve a
ne surface. Steps of nishing operation are given in
Table 1. Since the surface nish is dominantly affected by
the discharge energy mainly decided by the peak current
and the pulse duration, these two parameters were
gradually decreased for nishing operations through the
adjustment of the current-limiting resistance and the
capacitance, respectively. In addition, high wire tension

Fig. 12. Micrographs of tungsten carbide surface using (a) ne-nish

power supply and (b) DC power supply.

Fig. 9. Titanium surfaces machined by (a) ne-nish power supply and (b)
DC power supply. Table 1
Steps of nishing process

Finish-cutting operation number

1 2 3 4

Resistivity of water (kO cm) 100 100 150 150

Current-limiting resistance (O) 10 15 20 30
Pulse on-time (ms) 3 1 1 1
Pulse off-time (ms) 2 2 2 2
Capacitance (nF) 10 10 1 1
Wire tension (gf) 1600 1700 1800 1900
Fig. 10. Cross-section views of titanium surface using (a) ne-nish power Offset (mm) 10 7 5 2
supply and (b) DC power supply.

Fig. 11. Comparisons between surface of tungsten carbide using ne-nish power supply (left) and DC power supply (right).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1694 M.-T. Yan, Y.-P. Lai / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 16861694
Fig. 13. Machined surfaces of tool steel SKD11 and their surface
roughness for each nishing operation.
was used to reduce wire deection for each nishing
operation. Offset is the distance that the wire electrode
moves towards workpiece after each machining operation.
Fig. 13 shows the machined surface of tool steel SKD11
and their surface roughness for each nishing operation. It
was found that the machined surface is very smooth mainly
because the discharge energy provided from the RC pulse
generator is greatly reduced by shortening the discharge
duration and lowering the peak current. A ne surface
nish of 0.22 mm Ra was obtained after four nish
machining operations.
Although very low peak current and short pulse duration
can be provided by the developed iso-frequency power
supply, it was experimentally found that the discharge
duration is not constant during nishing and thus it
contributes to non-uniform discharge energy for each
spark. In order to achieve a very ne surface nish of
0.1 mm Ra or below, the research on the development of an
isoenergy pulse generator based on the circuitry of the
developed ne-nish power supply is continuing in our
laboratory.
5. Conclusion
In this study, a transistor-controlled RC-type ne-nish
power supply for wire-EDM has been developed. The
developed power supply using anti-electrolysis circuitry
and CPLD-based pulse control circuit can provide low
discharge energy pulses with a frequency of 500 kHz.
Discharge duration as short as 150 ns and peak current as
low as 0.7 A can be obtained through the adjustment of the
capacitance and current-limiting resistance in the discharge
circuit, respectively. Higher value of capacitance results in
higher discharge energy and thus contributes to longer
discharge duration. The peak current increases slightly with
the increase of the pulse on-time. A higher current-limiting
resistance results in a lower peak current. Experimental
results demonstrate that the developed ne-nish power
supply can reduce the recast layer, can eliminate rusting
and bluing in titanium and reduce cobalt depletion in
tungsten carbide than a standard DC power supply. A ne
surface nish of 0.22 mm Ra can be achieved by means of
four nish machining operations with proper machining
settings.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science
Council, Taiwan, under grant no. NSC 95-2622-E-211-
005-CC3. Technical support from Jiann Sheng Machinery
& Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is also acknowledged.
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