Influence of helical electrode and its structure on EDM small hole machining

Although helical electrodes have been proven to improve the EDM (electrical discharge machining) speed of small holes, there are few studies on the morphological characteristics of the machined small holes and the influence of electrode structures. In this paper, the influence of the helical electrode structure on the machining effect is studied by the method of orthogonal experiment, and the internal mechanism of the influence of the helical electrode on the machining is explained by the method of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulation. The results show that the larger depth and width of the helical groove and the helix angle of 60° are beneficial to increase the machining speed and reduce the relative loss rate, and at the same time, avoid serious defects in the small hole morphology. These conclusions provide a valuable reference for future researchers to choose the reasonable structure of the helical electrode, which is of great significance.