Abstract
In micro electrical discharge machining, since the discharge energy determines the material removal per single pulse discharge, decrease of the discharge energy is important for miniaturization of minimum machinable size of micro EDM. In this study, in order to decrease the discharge energy by reducing the discharge current flowing from the stray capacitance, high electric resistance materials such as single-crystal silicon were used as an electrode. Experimental results of micro rods machining show that with the resistivity of the electrodes increased, the diameter of discharge craters generated on the machined micro rod was reduced. In addition, since the diameter of discharge craters could be reduced, a cemented tungsten carbide micro rod of 0.8 μm in diameter was obtained using the silicon tool electrode.
