Investigation on particle generation by micro-electro discharge machining

In the present work the scope of using micro-electro discharge machining (micro-EDM) technique to generate metalnanoparticles is studied and thermal conductivity of the fluid with particles generated using micro-EDM is characterized. In the experiment, aluminum workpiece is machined with an aluminum tool electrode in deionized water. 40 to 96 V is applied for machining with pulse-on duration being varied between 10 and 100 microseconds. The particle count analysis reveals that low voltage and high pulse-on duration favors formation of smaller sized particles, as predicted by the developed model. A thermal conductivity measurements show 4% rise in thermal conductivity with the sample (0.004% by wt. in deionized water) produced by micro-EDM setup. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.