• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.421-425
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• 2016

Micro-EDM is one of the recent fine-machining technologies. Micro-EDM is widely used in precision processes because products manufactured via EDM are free from workpiece hardness. However, the debris produced during the process cause many problems such as reduced precision of the process. The first solution of this problem involves using the milling hole process. Micro-EDM hole process involves an electrode moving rapidly in the vertical direction via a servo system to disperse debris. However, this process can cause reduced work efficiency owing to contact between the electrode and workpiece. In this study, ultrasonic vibration is added to micro-EDM channel machining. Ultrasonic vibration removes the debris during machining and enables precision machining. Consequently, a clean work environment for the subsequent processes is maintained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.8-13
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• 1996

A relatively new non-traditional finishing process called Abrasive Flow Machining(AFM) is being used to deburr, polish and radius workpiece or produce compressive residual stresses by flowing an abrasive-laden viscoelastic compound across the surface to be machined. This paper presents the effects of AFM on surfaces of tool steel produced by EDM and W-EDM. Using AFM, white layer produced by EDM is erased almost equally and the amount of metal removal is significantly affected the initally machined surface condition of workpiece. The dimension of workiece is enlarged and its surface roughness is improved as AFM time is increased. The optimal AFM time can be established from the experimental results. It is considered that the grinding method lide AFM is useful to grind complex or slim geometry of workpiece even. Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM) was used to study the surface characteristics of the workpiece before and after AFM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.255-259
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• 2004

3-D micro structures and micro tools are fabricated using MEDM (Micro Electric Discharge Machining). To make micro structures, micro electro discharge milling process is applied. During micro electro discharge milling, electrode (tool) wears both axial and radial direction. To compensate tool wear which influences significantly machining accuracy, overlap machining path is proposed. Machining characteristics of micro electro discharge milling is investigated in considering of depth of cut and capacitance of discharge circuit. Micro complex shaped tools are fabricated using REDM (reverse electro discharge machining). Sacrificial electrode is machined through electro discharge milling process and is used as electrode to make micro tools. Using this process several micro tools shape of 'ㄷ', 'ㅁ' and 'o' are fabricated. With these complex shaped tools, micro machining is successfully applied repeatedly.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1092-1098
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• 1997

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) was attempted on a ceramic matrix composite containing non-conductive alumina as a matrix and conductive titania as a second phase, and was found successful. As the current or duty factor increased, the material removal rate (MRR) increased and the surface roughness also increased. The EDMed surface was covered with a number of craters of a circular shape having 100-200 microns of diameter. The melting and evaporation was suggested for the EDM mechanism. The bending strength decreased 44% after EDM, but the Weibull modulus increased more than twice. Combination of EDM and barre이 polishing resulted in the maintenance of the bending strength level. Temperature distribution near a spark in the sample was computer-simulated by use of finite element method, and was found to have similar shape to the one which the observed craters have.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.5-11
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• 2005

Among the micro machining techniques, micro EDM is generally used for machining micro holes, pockets, and micro structures on difficult-cut-materials. Micro EDM parameters such as applied voltage, capacitance, peak current, pulse width, duration time are very important to fabricate the tool electrode and produce the micro structures. Developed micro EDM machine is composed of a 3-axis driving system and RC circuit equipped with pulse generator. In this paper, using micro EDM machine, the characteristics of micro EDM process are investigated and it is applied to micro holes, slots, and pockets machining. Through experiments, relations between machined surface and voltages and between MRR and feedrate are investigated. Also the trends of tool wear are investigated in case of hole and slot machining.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2011

Recently, analyzing system is studying for applying to biomedical engineering field, actively. Micro fluidics control system has been manufactured using LIGA (Lithographie Galvanoformung und Abformung), Etching, Lithography and Laser etc. However, it is difficult that above-mentioned methods are applied to fabrication of precision mold master efficiently because of long processing time and rising cost of equipments. Therefore, in this study, micro EDM and micro WEDG system were developed to analyze machining characteristics with tool wear, surface roughness and process time. Then, optimal machining conditions could be obtained from the results of analysis. As the results, mold master of staggered herringbone mixer which has a high mixing efficiency, one of passive mixer of Lab-on-a-chip, could be fabricated from micro pattern(< 50um) using micro EDM successfully.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.119-126
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• 2014

Micro-holes of conductive ceramic are required in micro structures. Micro-electrical discharge machining (Micro-EDM) is an effective machining method since EDM is as process for shaping hard metals and complex-shaped holes by spark erosion in all kinds of electro-conductive materials. However, as the depth of micro hole increases, the machining condition becomes more unstable due to inefficient removal of debris between the electrode and the workpiece. In this paper, micro-EDM was performed to evaluate machining characteristic such as electrode wear, machining time, taper angle, radial clearance with varying voltage and ultrasonic vibration on 10 vol.% Carbon-nanotube reinforced conductive $Al_2O_3$ composite fabricated by spark plasma sintering in previous research.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2006

The present works concerns a side flushing device for the improvement of the conventional Electric-Discharge Machining(EDM) process. In the EDM process, chips are usually generated as the workpiece is removed, and deposited between the electrode and the workpiece. This sediment degrades the surface finish of the machined product as well as the processing efficiency. In the present study, a flushing device with additional side injection equipments is proposed in order to remove the deposited chips effectively. Through numerical simulations, the validity of the proposed device is verified, and the influence of process parameters is investigated. Experiments have been also carried out in the die sinking EDM process. It was observed that the process efficiency and the surface finish are improved by virtue of the proposed flushing device.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.268-274
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• 2013

Electric discharge machining drill (EDM-drill) is an efficient process for the fabrication of micro-diameter deep metal hole. As there is non-physical contact between tool (electrode) and workpiece, EDM-drill is widely used to machine the hard machining materials such as high strength steel, cemented carbide, titanium alloys. The electro-thermal energy forces the electrode to wear out together with the workpiece to be machined. The electrode wear occurs inside of a machining hole. and It causes hard to monitor the machining state, which leads the productivity and the quality to decrease. Thus, this study presents a methodology to estimated the electrode wear amount while two coefficients (scale factor and shape factor) of the logarithmic regression model are evaluated from the experiment result. To increase the accuracy of estimation model, the linear transformation method is adopted using the differences of initial electrode wear differences. The estimation model is verified through experiment. The experimental result shows that within minute error, the estimation model is able to predict accurately.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.3-10
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• 2008

Micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is an effective method for machining all types of conductive materials regardless of hardness. Since micro-EDM is an electro-thermal process, the energy supplied by the pulse generator is an important factor in determining the effectiveness of the process. In this study, an investigation was conducted on the micro-EDM of tungsten carbide (WC) to compare the performance of transistor and resistance/capacitance (RC) pulse generators in obtaining the best quality micro-hole. The performance was measured by the machining time, material removal rate, relative tool wear ratio, surface quality, and dimensional accuracy. The RC generator was more suited for minimizing the pulse energy, which is a requirement for fabricating micro-parts. The smaller-sized debris formed by the low-discharge energy of RC micro-EDM could be easily flushed away from the machined zone, resulting in a surface free of burrs and resolidified molten metal. The RC generator also required much less time to obtain the same quality micro-hole in WC. Therefore, RC generators are better suited for fabricating micro-structures, producing good surface quality and better dimensional accuracy than the transistor generators, despite their higher relative tool wear ratio.