Wire Electro Discharge Machining

A wire electro discharge machining image

Wire cut Electro Discharge Machining (EDM), or sometime referred to as spark eroding, is a machining method used to section hard electrically conducting specimens as well as some ceramic materials, that would otherwise be hard to machine or cut with traditional methods. The ability to achieve high levels of machining accuracy combined with an exceptional surface finish make it an ideal sample preparation tool for more advance analytical techniques.

The facility is located within the Advanced Materials and Processing Lab (AMPLab), lending itself to the sample preparation of additively manufactured components, allowing the microstructural, compositional, and mechanical properties to be studied using the state-of-the-art suite of techniques housed within LMCC.

Examples of materials that EDM is well suited for, include cutting of titanium, tungsten carbide, Inconel super alloys and functional materials, such as shape memory metals, magnetic materials, and superconductors.

Example applications

  • Sectioning of additively manufactured hard materials
  • Produces a high surface finish requirement
  • Cutting components with complex geometries

Sodick VN400Q

  • X/Y/Z Axis Travel (mm)
    • 400 x 300 x 230
  • U/V Axis Travel (mm)
    • 90 x 90
  • Taper Angle
    • +-15° 
  • Wire Diameter (mm)
    • 0.1-0.3
  • Maximum load (kg) 
    • 500

Are you interested in using this facility?

If you are interested in using equipment would like further information please do not hesitate to get in touch.