This study aimed to investigate the performance of zinc-coated brass wire in wire-cut electrical discharge machining (EDM) using an ultrasonic-assisted wire on tungsten carbide. The research focused on the effect of the wire electrode material on the material removal rate, surface roughness, and discharge waveform. Experimental results demonstrated that using ultrasonic vibration improved the material removal rate and reduced surface roughness compared to conventional wire-EDM. Cross-sectional SEM of the white layer and discharge waveform were investigated to explain the phenomena of ultrasonic vibration in the wire-cut EDM process.

Wire electrical discharge machine (WEDM) is non-conventional machining process. It can be used for hard cutting material. The study has been presented the combining WEDM with an ultrasonic machine (USM) with brass and tungsten were used as a wire electrode and workpiece respectively. The experiment was carried out with an ultrasonic transducer at 40, 80 kHz. The results were observed with the material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra). This research introduced the method of USM setup and described the effected of vibration with the wire electrode on the displacement of amplitude. The result shows that the WEDM process with USM at 40 kHz can be more improved with the material removal rate and surface roughness than that of USM at 80 kHz. This can be explained that higher frequency affected to vibration displacement which makes lower amplitude.

Insulating materials are now subjected to precision electrical discharge machining (EDM) using an assisting electrode method (AEM). The electrode materials usually comprise copper, graphite and copper alloys that have high melting temperature and excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. A brass electrode is known as a humble electrode. Performances of brass and copper pipe electrodes were compared on silicon nitride machining. Results showed that a brass electrode had more advantages than a copper electrode. Material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear ratio (EWR) and surface roughness were compared, while the conductive layers were examined by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS).

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Relationships between material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR) and surface crack density (SCD) were investigated for wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) of pure tungsten to explore the significance of machine parameter variables such as voltage (Vo), peak current (Ip) and wire speed (Ws). An L9 orthogonal array Taguchi design of experiment (DOE) was used to determine the effect of different machine conditions. Data were statistically evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results indicated that increase in discharge current and voltage increased MRR, SR and SCD. Specimens were observed by scanning electron microscopy to investigate surface response under different conditions. Characteristics of crack length distribution per unit area were optimized for surface crack density. Signal to noise ratio and ANOVA were utilized to analyze process responses. Results can be used to optimize cutting parameters for tungsten carbide manufacturing processes.