EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) works by using a continuously moving fine metal wire (called an electrode wire) as an electrode to remove metal from the workpiece through pulsed spark discharge, thus cutting and shaping it. This technology was invented in 1943 by the Soviet scientists Lazarenko and his wife, and China began researching it in the 1950s. It uses high-frequency pulsed electric spark discharge to create a plasma channel, with instantaneous temperatures reaching 8000-12000℃, melting or vaporizing the workpiece material. This, combined with the erosion effect of an insulating medium, completes the removal of the metal. It is suitable for precision machining of high-hardness conductive materials, such as complex structural parts like punches and dies in blanking dies.
Modern wire EDM uses 0.02-0.3mm diameter metal wires for two-dimensional or three-dimensional contour cutting with an accuracy of ±0.001mm. By using graphite electrodes (costing only 25% of copper electrodes and with a loss rate as low as 1/5) and an intelligent adaptive control system to optimize processing efficiency and accuracy, it is widely used in mold manufacturing, aerospace, and other fields. In China, wire EDM machines account for over 60% of the total number of EDM equipment.