EDM is essential for producing complex shapes in materials with high mechanical properties.
Unlike other machining methods, there is no contact with the workpiece.
The machining process consists of passing a current through a dielectric in order to generate a “bubble” of vapour or vacuum which ionises and resorbs by imploding, leading to the destruction of the material. This destruction (micro-implosion) causes the spark. The high current ionises a channel through the dielectric. A disruptive discharge then occurs, from the electrode to the workpiece, damaging it very locally (some µm²). The dielectric then cools the damaged particles, which fall into the machine tank as a slurry (micro particles of material and dielectric).