Tungsten Copper Electrode for Electrical Discharge Machining

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Tungsten Copper Electrode for Electrical Discharge Machining

Compared with copper or graphite electrodes used in the early days, tungsten copper electrodes have greater strength, faster heat dissipation, better electrical and thermal conductivity, better high-temperature resistance, and arc ablation resistance. However, it is worth mentioning that the manufacturing cost of copper-tungsten materials is also relatively high. In this article, let’s take a deeper look at the tungsten copper electrode for electrical discharge machining. 

What’s Electrical Discharge Machining?

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is the use of continuously moving fine metal wires (electrode wires) to perform pulse spark discharge ablation and cutting of the workpiece.

The advantage of EDM is that it can process difficult-to-cut materials, very hard materials such as cemented carbide, various high-speed steels, and even diamond and cubic boron nitride. In addition, it can also process more refined models.

In the EDM process, the role of the electrode material is to transport the machining pulse and to remove the workpiece with its own small loss, so it must meet the following conditions:

a. high conductivity;

b. can effectively remove metal; 

c. less self-loss;

d. high melting point;

e. low coefficient of thermal expansion;

f. good mechanical properties.

In recent years, with the continuous development of science and technology, tungsten copper alloys are often used as electrodes during EDM. It not only can make the processed molds and parts have high precision but also has low electrode loss and high processing efficiency. It can also complete the finishing and rough processing of the product at one time.

The requirements of EDM for tungsten copper electrode materials are as follows:

1. It is required that the tungsten copper material not only has good electrical and thermal conductivity but also has the best possible resistance to spark corrosion.

2. In order to ensure the stability of the EDM process and increase the utilization rate of electrode materials, copper-tungsten materials are required to have high material uniformity and compactness.

3. EDM electrodes need to provide copper-tungsten electrodes with corresponding shapes according to the requirements of the tooling or products being processed.

Conclusion 

Thank you for reading our article and we hope it can help you have a better understanding of the tungsten copper electrode for electrical discharge machining. If you want to know more about tungsten copper alloy or other types of refractory materials, we would like to advise you to visit Advanced Refractory Metals (ARM) for more information.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, California, USA, Advanced Refractory Metals (ARM) is a leading manufacturer & supplier of refractory metals & alloys across the world. It provides customers with high-quality refractory metals & alloys such as molybdenum, tantalum, rhenium, tungsten, titanium, and zirconium at a very competitive price.