What is Electrical Discharge Machining?
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a thermal process that involves melting and vaporisation of the workpiece electrode. It is widely used in the aerospace, mouldmaking and die casting industries for manufacturing plastics moulds, forging dies and die casting dies made from hardened tool steels, together with engine components, such as compressor blades made from titanium alloys and nickel-based superalloys. In addition to the more well known EDM operations of die sinking, scanning/milling with a simple electrode and wire cutting, other operations and machine configurations exist, one of which allows the surface of hardened steel rolls used in the production of steel and aluminium sheet to be textured.
