Electrical discharge machining

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Electrical discharge machining (EDM), also sometimes known as spark machining or spark eroding, is a metal cutting process whereby a desired shape is obtained by using electrical discharges (sparks). Material is removed from the work piece by a series of rapidly recurring current discharges between two electrodes, separated by a dielectric liquid and subject to an electric voltage. One of the electrodes is called the tool electrode (or simply the tool or electrode), while the other is called the workpiece electrode, or workpiece. The electrode is usually either a wire or a machined die. A wire electrode is well suited to cutting a thin kerf, and the process is called wire EDM (also sometimes wire burning or wire erosion). A die-type electrode can repeatedly create precise copies of the negative geometry of the die shape, and the process is called sinker EDM (or less commonly, die-sinking EDM). The process depends upon the tool and workpiece not making physical contact. Extremely hard materials...

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