Abstract
In this paper, the temperature time-variation at every point on the electrode surface in the diesinking EDM process is simulated by a finite-difference method, on the basis of experimental results. At first, the energy distributed into a copper electrode is determined by comparing the computed temperatures for given points within the electrode with the measured ones. Then the electrode surface temperature at any time and for any point is simulated with the obtained energy distribution ratio, and the influence of the thermophysical properties of materials on the surface temperature is investigated. It is found that the energy distributed into the copper tool electrode under the used experimental conditions is 34 percent of the total discharge energy. It is also found from computations that the temperature at a discharge point for the material with greater value of thermal dif f usivity such as copper decreases quickly because the speed of energy dif f ussion into the electrode body is quite high.
