Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879
DOI 10.1007/s00170-008-1546-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Measurement of wire electrode temperature in WEDM
Fuzhu Han & Gang Cheng & Zhijing Feng &
Isago Soichiro
Received: 18 October 2007 / Accepted: 24 April 2008 / Published online: 30 July 2008
# Springer-Verlag London Limited 2008
Abstract Wire temperature is an important parameter in
the wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM) process
because overheating of the wire can cause the wire to
break. It is difficult, however, to measure the wire
temperature directly under the condition that the wire is
emerged in water and surrounded by the workpiece. Only
mathematical analyses by now have been reported to
determine such temperature but limited by the assumption
of convective heat transfer coefficient and the percentage of
energy distribution. Based on the relationship between the
wire temperature and the value of its resistance, this paper
proposes a measuring system that has been developed to
experimentally track and record the average temperature
increment of the wire electrode for the WEDM process.
With this system, the average temperature increment of the
wire under discharges can be as high as 130°C. The average
temperature increment of the wire under normal discharges
has also been measured for low discharging energy. A
typical application of this system is finally discussed in this
paper. By measuring the average temperature increment of
the wire electrode heated by Joule heating energy, the
convective heat transfer coefficient in WEDM is experi-
mentally determined.
F. Han (*) : Z. Feng
Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanology,
Tsinghua University,
Beijing 100084, China
e-mail: han@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
G. Cheng
Beijing Special Engineering Design and Research Institute,
Beijing 100028, China
I. Soichiro
Makino Milling Machine Co., Ltd,
Tokyo 243-0308, Japan
Keywords WEDM . Temperature . Thermal resistor .
Convection
1 Introduction
Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is an ideal
solution for manufacturing such materials as die steel,
diamond, aluminium alloys, etc., which are difficult to
machine with traditional methods. Instead of direct contact,
the removal of material is accomplished by a series of
electrical discharges between a wire electrode and the
workpiece, but there are two factors that restrict the further
improvement of WEDM. One is the wire rupture during the
machining process especially in high-speed cutting con-
ditions, and the other is the wire erosion that deteriorates
the machining quality. Either the wire rupture or the wire
erosion is attributed to the temperature rising of the wire
electrode heated by the electrical discharging energy. Much
research has been done to estimate the temperature
distribution of the wire electrode analytically based on the
differential equation for heat flow in an infinite body [1–3],
or numerically by using the finite-difference approach [4, 5].
But the accuracy of this research is limited by the
assumptions they had made. For example, the convective
heat transfer coefficient, which is an important parameter
for the heat transfer analysis, was not determined accurately
beforehand in the above papers.
The development of a temperature-measuring system is
necessary to experimentally determine the wire temperature
with better accuracy and more reliability than previous
research work. Theoretically, the wire temperature can be
measured by placing a probe close to the wire. But as soon as
the wire cuts into the workpiece, the kerf, which is specialized
to define the slit formed in the workpiece, will be so narrow
872
that it is difficult to insert the probe near the wire, much less
contacting the probe with the wire. Another possible way is to
indirectly get the wire temperature by detecting the heat
radiation of the wire outside the kerf. Since the wire is
submerged in water, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Jennes et al. [3] proposed another indirect temperature-
measuring method based on the relationship between the
temperature and the strength of the wire. The limitation of
this method lies in that the maximum tension must be
loaded on the wire in order to obtain the temperature, so
that the wire rupture is inevitable after the measurement.
Obara et al. [6] measured the wire temperature distribution
by detecting the discharge locations. The discharging
currents of both current supplying branches (Iu and Id)
and the voltages between the brushes (ΔV) were measured
simultaneously. Then the resistance of the wire between the
discharging point and the bottom brush will be:
rd ¼ ΔV =ðIu þ Id Þ þ R0 ðIu =Id Þ
in which, R0 ¼ ru þ rd , is the total resistance of the wire
between the two brushes and is assumed to be a constant.
According the theory of thermal resistance, the value of rd
will change with the temperature of the wire. Then by
tracking and recording the value of rd and at the same time
the location of the discharging point, the temperature
distribution along the wire can be determined. But
contradictorily, R0 will also change with increased temper-
ature. So if it is assumed to be a constant, then the accuracy
of the measured temperature distribution will be uncertain.
Moreover, in the WEDM process, the variation of the
wire’s resistance is not only attributed to the temperature
increment of the wire but also to the erosion of the wire.
Takeshita et al. [7] proposed a revised wire temperature
measuring method also based on the method of detecting
the discharge locations, but the effects of the erosion of the
wire electrode on its resistance has been taken into account.
In this paper a wire temperature measuring method based
on the theory of a thermal resistor is proposed and then a
measuring system developed. With this system, the average
temperature increment of the wire electrode heated by a series
of discharges is obtained. Moreover, the accurate value of
several important WEDM parameters such as the convective
heat transfer coefficient was experimentally determined with
the help of this temperature-measuring system.
2 Description of measuring system
2.1 Theoretical base for the measurement
According to the theory of the thermal resistor, the
resistivity of the metal varies with its temperature. This
property of metal makes it suitable to act as a sensor for
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879
measuring temperature. Brass is an ideal material for such
usage because the relationship between its resistivity and
temperature is almost linear if the temperature ranges from
0 to 150°C. Moreover, the temperature coefficient of brass
is large enough to guarantee the resolution for temperature
measurement. Coincidently, the wire electrode used in the
WEDM is commonly made of brass, so it is possible to
acquire the wire temperature indirectly by measuring the
resistance of the wire.
During the WEDM process, the part of the wire
electrode located inside the kerf is considered to be a
thermal resistor. After a series of discharges, the body
temperature of the wire must have risen, and accordingly
the resistance of that part of the wire will also increase. On
the condition that the resistivity and the temperature
coefficient of the brass have been calibrated in advance,
the average temperature of the wire inside the kerf will be
deduced from its resistance.
2.2 Description of the resistance measuring circuit
According to the above introduction, the precondition of
the temperature measurement lies on the accurate tracking
and recording of the wire’s resistance. Unlike the ordinary
resistance-measuring system, the wire resistance measuring
system for WEDM should possess the following character-
istics. Firstly, it has to be sensitive enough to capture the
faint change of the wire’s resistance if the temperature
changes. Secondly, the anti-jamming ability of the measur-
ing system must be high, considering that the pulse
generator of the wire electrical discharge machine is a
major source of the electromagnetic interference. Based on
the above principle, a resistance measuring circuit for the
WEDM is devised as shown in Fig. 1.
The circuit is mainly composed of three parts. The first one
is the constant current source, which keeps the electrical
current flowing through the wire electrode constant. That is to
say, the change of the voltage between the two ends of the
wire electrode is only attributable to the fluctuation of the Rt,,
which is the resistance of the wire electrode and is
proportional to the temperature. The second part is the probe
with four wires, which not only introduces the signal from
the wire electrode to the measuring circuit but also eliminates
the effect of the connecting wires on the measurement. The
third part is the differential amplifier, which amplifies the
original signal introduced from the probe, and at the same
time filters out electromagnetic interference.
If the current that flows through Rw is represented by i,
then the following equations are established,
8
< ðUo1
Ui1 Þ=R5 ¼ i
ðU
Ui2 Þ=Rw ¼ i ð1Þ
: i1
ðUi2
Uo2 Þ=R5 ¼ i
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879 873

Fig. 1 Wire resistance

Probe Uref
measuring circuit Ui1 3 Uo1
R1 6
Wire ic 2 A1
electrode 1
2
R5 R7
Rt
3
4 R6 3
Rw Uo
6
2 A3
R2 i R6
Uref U1
OUT 3 Q1
IN 6
GND 2 A0 R7
R5
2
A2 6 Differential
Constant current RS 3
Uo2 amplifier
source Ui2

in which, the voltages Ui1 and Ui2 are derived from both
ends of the wire electrode, Uo1 and Uo2 are the output
voltages of the amplifier A1 and A2, respectively.
According to the above equations, the output voltage of
the two amplifiers can be solved respectively as:
( which is the average temperature increment of the wire
Uo1 ¼ iR5 þ Ui1 ¼ RRw5 ðUi1
Ui2 Þ þ Ui1
ð2Þ
Uo2 ¼ Ui2
iR5 ¼ Ui2
RRw5 ðUi1
Ui2 Þ
Then the ultimate output of this circuit can be written as:


Uo ¼ RR76 ðUo1
Uo2 Þ ¼ RR76  1 þ 2R
Rw ðUi1
Ui2 Þ
5
ð3Þ
¼ KA ðUi1
Ui2 Þ
where KA represents the total voltage gain of this circuit.
Since the electrical current ic that flows through the wire
electrode remains constant, the voltage between the two
ends of the electrode is only proportional to Rt,, which is
the resistance of the wire electrode.
Ui1
Ui2 ¼ Rt  ic
When Eq. (4) is incorporated into Eq. (3), the relation-
ship between Uo and Rt is formed:
Uo ¼ KA  Rt  ic
According to the theory of thermal resistance, the
variation of the wire temperature ΔTa has the relationship
with the change of Rt as:
ΔRt 1 Uo
Uo0 1
ΔTa ¼ ¼ 
Rt0 a Uo0 a relationship with its resistance at the range of 18 to 100°C,
where α is the temperature coefficient of brass, which the
wire electrode is made of.
Unlike the methods proposed by Takeshita [7], the
measurement of temperature in this paper is not effected
by the erosion of the wire. Because either Uo0 or Uo is
recorded after the discharges, the temperature increment
calculated from Eq. (6) will have nothing to do with the
erosion of the wire as long as the value of α remains stable.
2.3 Calibration of the temperature coefficient
Since the experimental determination of ΔRt/Rt0 has been
fulfilled by the resistance-measuring circuit, the tempera-
ture coefficient-α will determine the accuracy of ΔTa,
electrode.
The temperature coefficient calibration system is com-
posed of the heating device, wire electrode, resistance
measuring circuit, thermometer, and the digital oscillograph.
To begin with the calibration, a section of wire electrode is
wound around an insulated bracket and both of them are
immersed into ionized water. Then connect the two ends of
the wire with the input port of the resistance-measuring
circuit and record the output signal of the circuit with the
oscillograph. At the same time, the water temperature around
the wire electrode is measured by a thermometer inserted
into the wire. During the heating process, it is necessary to
stir the water ceaselessly, so that the temperature of the water
ð4Þ
measured by the thermometer will be nearly the same as the
wire temperature. From 18 to 100°C, sample and record both
the output signal of the circuit and the wire temperature
simultaneously for every increment of 10°C. Consequently, a
ð5Þ
relationship between the wire temperature and the output
voltage of the resistance-measuring circuit can be achieved
as the Fig. 2 shows.
Such calibration was carried out four times with different
length of wire electrode. The results show that whatever the
length is, the increment of the wire temperature has a linear
ð6Þ
and the linear rate stays almost the same. Thus according to
Eq. (6), as long as the temperature increment of the wire
and the output voltage of the resistance-measuring circuit
are known, the temperature coefficient of the wire electrode
can solved as:
Uo
Uo0 1
a¼ 
Uo0 ΔTa
874 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879

Fig. 2 Results of the tempera-

ture coefficient calibration 9.2 Original data 8.8 Original data

Output voltage Uo (V)

Output voltage Uo (V)

Fitted data Fitted data
9.0
8.6

8.8
8.4
8.6

8.2
8.4

8.2 8.0

20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100

Temperature T (°C) Temperature T (°C)

(a) (b)

10.0
Output voltage Uo (V)

Output voltage Uo (V)

10.8 Original data Original data
9.8
Fitted data Fitted data
10.6
9.6
10.4
9.4
10.2
9.2
10.0
9.0
9.8
8.8
20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100
Temperature T (°C) Temperature T (°C)
(c) (d)

2.4 Procedure of the measuring experiments system is specialized to measure and record the changing
history of the wire resistance when the wire is heated by the
2.4.1 General procedure discharging energy or by the Joule heating energy alone. The
experiments were carried out on EU64, a wire electrical
With the resistance-measuring circuit, a wire temperature discharge machine produced by MAKINO Ltd. It has to be
measuring system is constructed as shown in Fig. 3. This pointed out that the axial transportation of the wire was
prohibited during the measuring process because the contact
Wire electrode resistance between the brushes and the wire is so unstable that
the measuring accuracy may be lowered if the wire moves.
Upper brush A typical resistance measuring procedure can be described
as follows: Just at the instance when the pulse generator
Guide
terminates its pulse output, a signal generated by the wire
+
electrical discharging machine EU64 triggers the oscilloscope
Constant
Pulse Differential to track and record the output voltage of the differential signal
Workpiece current
generator source amplifier amplifier. At this time, the electrical current that flows through
the wire electrode is supplied by the constant current source
– instead of the pulse generator. According to Ohm's law, the
voltage difference on the wire measured between the upper
Bottom brush brush and the bottom brush has a direct ratio with both the
Oscilloscope Output resistance of that part of the wire and the electrical current
Voltage voltage that flows through the wire. Provided the electrical current is
Ch. 1
increment known beforehand and stays constant, the resistance of that
Triggering part of wire can be determined by the recorded output
Ch. 2
signal voltage of the differential signal amplifier. As soon as the
Fig. 3 General layout of the wire temperature measuring system output voltage of the measuring circuit is tracked and
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879
recorded, the average temperature increment of the wire
electrode will be determined by Eq. (6).
During a typical WEDM process, the energy loaded on
the wire electrode is mainly attributed to two types of
pulses. One is the short-circuit pulse and the other is the
normal discharge pulse. In this paper, the temperature
increment caused by either the short circuit pulse or the
combination of the two pulses was studied separately.
2.4.2 Procedure for measuring the temperature increment
under the load of Joule heating energy
In the normal WEDM process, as shown in Fig. 4, the
discharging current is supplied to the wire from two points
(at the position of x1and x4), which are connected to the
anode of the pulse generator simultaneously. In order to
measure the temperature increment under the load of Joule
heating energy, the discharging current is supplied to the
wire only from one point at the position of x1, while at
the position of x4, the wire is connected to the cathode of
the pulse generator. At the same time, the workpiece is
insulated from the wire in order to avoid the normal
discharges being generated between the wire and the
workpiece. So only short-circuit current pulses will flow
through the part of the wire from x1to x4. That is to say,
only the Joule heating energy, the mean value of which is a
constant, is supplied to that part of the wire.
2.4.3 Procedure for measuring the temperature increment
under the load of both short-circuit and normal discharge
pulses
Since both short-circuit and normal discharge pulses can
occur in the actual WEDM process, it is more important to
measure the temperature increment of the wire when both
of the two types of pulses are loaded on the wire. In order
to prevent the discharge current from damaging the
Region 1:
Current supply Water cooling
x1
Region 2:
Water cooling + Joule Heating qJ'''
x2
Region 3:
Workpiece Water cooling + Joule Heating qJ'''
+ Discharges qd'''
x3
Region 4:
Water cooling + Joule Heating qJ'''
Current supply
x4
Region 5:
Water cooling
Wire velocity
Fig. 4 Thermal model for the WEDM process
875
constant current source, the discharging current is supplied
to the wire from one point at the position of x1 as shown in
Fig. 4. Furthermore, the movement of the wire is prohibited
to prevent the fluctuation of contact resistance between the
brush and the wire.
3 Experimental results
3.1 Temperature measurements under the load of Joule
heating energy
Firstly, the temperature-measurement experiments were
carried out only under the load of short-circuit pulse with
different Joule heating energy input, the value of which can
be adjusted in accordance with IP—the peak current of the
short circuit flowing through the wire. Except for IP, the
other machining parameters like pulse duration (2 μs) and
pulse interval (30 μs) were kept constant during the
experiments. For each value of IP, the average temperature
increment of the wire was measured respectively when the
wire was both inside and outside the kerf. Figure 5 is the
output voltage signals of the resistance-measuring circuit
for the above experiments, and the average temperature
increment ΔTa of the wire was calculated by Eq. (6). The
results of the calculation are shown in Table 1, which
shows that the temperature increment of the wire rises
considerably when the wire is hidden inside the kerf
whatever value the peak current is set.
Temperature-measurement experiments were also carried
out with different settings of coolant flushing pressure,
when IP was set as 332 A and the wire was hidden inside
the kerf. If no coolant is flushed to the wire, the average
temperature increment of the wire will increase about
135.1°C. But if the flushing pressure is increased to
0.8 MPa, the average temperature increment of the wire
will only be 100.3°C, much lower than the former one. The
results of the experiments show that it is effective to
prevent the wire from overheat by flushing the coolant
toward the wire, but it should be pointed out that during the
actual WEDM process, the higher the flushing pressure is,
the more unstable the movement of the wire will be.
Furthermore, the impact of high flushing pressure will even
rupture the wire in some situations. So the balance should
be made between the ameliorated cooling condition and the
stable movement of the wire.
3.2 Temperature measurements under the load
of discharging energy
It is a special situation that the wire electrode is heated only
by the Joule heating energy. In the normal WEDM process,
three basic pulse types can be distinguished between the
876 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879

Fig. 5 Output voltage of the

circuit under the load of Joule 1.7 2.0

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)
heating energy (flushing
press = 0.8 Mpa) 1.9
1.6

1.5 1.8

1.4 1.7
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
Time (s) Time (s)
(a) Ip = 254 A, outside kerf (b) Ip = 254 A, inside kerf
1.7 1.9

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)

1.6 1.8

1.5 1.7

1.4 1.6
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
Time (s) Time (s)
(c) Ip = 332 A, outside kerf (d) Ip = 332 A, inside kerf

1.8 1.9

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)

1.7 1.8

1.6 1.7

1.5 1.6

0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015

Time (s) Time (s)
(e) Ip = 414 A, outside kerf (f) Ip = 414 A, inside kerf

wire electrode and the workpiece: normal discharge, short Figure 6 is the output voltage signal of the resistance-
circuit, and open circuit. Only the pulse of normal discharge measuring circuit for the above experiments, and the average
and short circuit make contributions to the temperature temperature increment ΔTa of the wire was calculated by
increment of the wire. As the above experiments have Eq. (6). For these experiments, the flushing pressure of the
determined the average temperature increment of the wire coolant was changed in order to examine the cooling effect on
under short circuit pulses, which generate the Joule heating the temperature increment of the wire. Other machining
energy, more experiments were carried out to estimate the parameters such as the value of the peak current and the kerf
temperature increment caused by both the normal discharge conditions are all the same. It should be noted that the discharge
and short-circuit pulses. That is, the Joule heating energy energy was at a very low level during the experiments, when the
and the normal discharging energy were loaded jointly on value of the peak current was only about 170 A.
the wire electrode. For Fig. 6a, when the flushing pressure is as high as 0.8
MPa, the average temperature increment of the wire
electrode will be:
Table 1 Results of temperature measurement with different peak
Uo
Uo0 1 1:5380
1:507 1
current value and kerf conditions ΔTa ¼  ¼   15:95ð CÞ
Uo0 a 1:507 0:00129
Kerf condition Average temperature increment (°C)
For Fig. 6b, when the flushing pressure is removed from
Flushing pressure = 0.8 Mpa
the working zone, the average temperature increment of the
IP =254 A IP =332 A IP =414 A wire electrode will be:
Uo
Uo0 1 1:5753
1:5137 1
Inside kerf 76.33 100.30 122.31 ΔTa ¼  ¼   31:55ð CÞ
Outside kerf 53.79 69.83 89.99 Uo0 a 1:5137 0:00129
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879 877

Fig. 6 Output voltage of 1.6 1.6

resistance-measuring circuit for
the normal machining process

1.5 1.5

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)
1.4 1.4

1.3 1.3
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020
Time (s) Time (s)
(a) Flushing pressure = 0.8 Mpa (b) Flushing pressure = 0

The above experiments show that the flushing of coolant when the wire is heated only by Joule heating energy. For
toward the wire is an effective method for preventing the this experimental condition, the solution of the Eq. (7) is:
overheating of the wire, which is heated by both the normal
discharging energy and the Joule heating energy. 00 0  
qJ 1 pffiffiffi 1 pffiffiffi
T ð xÞ ¼ 1
exp nðx
x4 Þ þ exp nðx1
xÞ
nl 2 2
4 Application on determination of the convective heat ð8Þ
transfer coefficient
Then the average temperature increment of the wire
4.1 Relationship between temperature and convective heat between x1and x4 caused by the Joule heat will be:
transfer coefficient R x4
T2 ð xÞdx
ΔTa ¼ x1
x4
x1
In the case of a stationary state, the thermal model of the 00 0 h i ð9Þ
1
1
expmð
mÞ
qJ
wire electrode can be described by the following differential ¼ n
equation: qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi2ffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
where m ¼ n=lðx4
x1 Þ ¼ 2hðxlr 4
x1 Þ
, and r is the
d2T n 1

 T þ  q000 ¼ 0 ð7Þ radius of the wire.
dx2 l l For the WEDM process, the value of the convective heat
with: n ¼ hLS , 1 - thermal conductivity, h - convective heat
transfer coefficient h outclasses the value of λ, and if the
transfer coefficient, L - circumference of the wire, S - cross part of the wire between x1 and x4 is long enough compared
section area of the wire, q000 - heat flux density (heat with the wire radius, that is ðx4
x1 Þ >> r, then Eq. (9)
production per unit length of the wire and per unit time). can be simplified as:
In the temperature-measuring experiments, a stable 00 0
short-circuit current is supplied to the wire from the upper qJ S 000 r 000
ΔTa ¼ ¼ q ¼ q ð10Þ
brush to the bottom brush (at the position of x1 and x4), n Lh J 2h J

Table 2 Effect of kerf on the convective coefficient h Table 3 Effect of flushing pressure on h

Kerf condition Convective coefficient h (W/m2K) Kerf condition Convective coefficient h (W/m2K)

Flushing pressure = 0.8 Mpa =A

IP=254 A IP=332 A IP=414 A Ip = 332A Pressure=0.8 Mpa

Inside kerf 17,626.0 17,385.3 18,234.7 Inside kerf 13,419.8 17,385.3

Outside kerf 23,507.5 24,101.5 23,889.7 Outside kerf 19,560.6 24,101.5
878
As soon as the average temperature increment of the
wire ΔTa is measured, the convective heat transfer
coefficient h can be determined as:
00 0
1 r  qJ
h¼  ð11Þ
2 ΔTa
4.2 Determination of the convective heat-transfer
coefficient
Firstly, the effect of the kerf on the convective heat-transfer
coefficient h is experimentally studied. Because the temper-
ature increment of the wire electrode has been previously
determined as Table 1 shows, the convective heat transfer
coefficient can be calculated based on Eq. (11). Table 2 lists
the results of the determination, which shows that whatever
value the peak current is set at, the experimentally
determined value of h stays approximately the same, as long
as the flushing pressure and the kerf condition are fixed. In
the literature [8], the values of the convective heat-transfer
coefficient h cover a very wide range for forced convection
in liquids: h=50–20,000 W/m2K. In case of convection with
phase change (boiling or condensation), an even larger range
is indicated (h=2,500–100,000 W/m2K). In the literature [9],
the convective heat-transfer coefficient was experimentally
determined as ranging from 8,600–13,500 W/m2K in
accordance with a different combination of machining
parameters. Compared with these reports, the method
introduced in this paper of estimating the convective heat-
transfer coefficient is proved to be feasible.
The table also shows that the coefficient h is much larger
outside the kerf than inside the kerf. It is in accordance with
the experimental results shown in Fig. 5, which have
proved that when the wire is hidden inside the kerf, the
average temperature increment will be much larger than
that when the wire is outside the kerf. Secondly, the effect
of the flushing pressure on the convective heat transfer
coefficient is studied. As described in 3.2, increased
flushing pressure of the coolant can lower the average
temperature increment of the wire during the WEDM
process. It is evident that the larger the flushing pressure
is, the larger the coefficient h will be. An additional
experiment was carried out to track and record the output
voltage of the resistance-measuring system when the
flushing pressure of the coolant was decreased to
0.1 MPa. Table 3 summarizes the effect of flushing pressure
on the value of h. These results prove that whether the wire
is inside the kerf or not, the convective heat-transfer
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 41:871–879
coefficient will increase with the increased flushing
pressure of the coolant.
5 Conclusions
As the overheating of the wire electrode governs the
phenomenon of wire rupture, there is an urgent need to
determine the temperature increment of the wire during the
WEDM process. The experimental determination of wire
temperature provides more accurate results than analytical
and FEM methods that have been widely used. Based on the
theory of thermal resistance, the temperature-measuring
system introduced in this paper is sensitive enough to
capture the fluctuation of the wire temperature even when
the discharging energy is set very low. Considering the
serious electromagnetic interference generated during the
WEDM process, the measuring circuit is specially designed,
and the differential amplifier was proven to be feasible.
The experimental results show that the temperature
increment of the wire may be as high as 135.1°C under
the load of Joule heating energy. Temperature-measuring
experiments were also carried out under the load of normal
discharges, and the temperature increment of the wire lower
than 20°C can be discriminated. It is proven in this paper
that the temperature variation is effected by a combination
of factors, such as energy density, kerf conditions, and
flushing pressure. So it is necessary to optimize them
beforehand in order to avoid overheating of the wire during
the machining process. Based on the temperature-measuring
system, the convective heat-transfer coefficient, which is an
important parameter for heat-transfer analysis of WEDM, is
experimentally determined in this paper. So it is possible to
get a detailed temperature distribution in three dimensions
along the wire electrode in the future.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the China
National Natural Science Foundation (50575115) for their support of
this research.
References
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