Copper and graphite electrodes performance in electrical-discharge machining of XW42 tool steel

Electrical-discharge machining (EDM) is a process of utilizing the removal phenomenon of electrical-discharge in dielectric, therefore, the electrode plays an important role, which affects the material removal rate and the tool wear rate. In this paper the machining characteristics were investigated when machining XW42 tool steel at two current settings (3 A and 6 A), three diameter sizes (10, 15 and 20 mm) and kerosene as the dielectric. The results show that the material removal rate is higher and the relative electrode wear ratio is lower with copper electrode than graphite electrode. The increase in the current and electrode diameter reduced tool wear rate as well as the material removal rate.