The Detection of Electrode Breakage in Electric Discharge Process by Methods of Vibroacoustic Diagnostics

As a research task, the authors determined an attempt to assess the possibility of applying the methods of vibroacoustic diagnostics to detecting an electrode breakage during electrical erosion processing (EDM). The presence of a diagnostic system allows timely replacing tools and thereby increasing the productivity of the process. During the review of previous research, considerable attention is paid to identifying the main parameters of EDM processing, among which the most important is gap size in the electrode gap. The absence of high-quality automatic control of this gap on the machine makes the EDM process ineffective. Experimental research was conducted on a wire-cut machine “CUT 1000”, the materials being processed were alloys VK 60, T15K6 and VOK60 (WC, TiC and ceramic alloys). The authors proposed a dynamic model of the erosion treatment zone and experimentally showed a change in its frequency characteristics with increasing concentration of erosion products. There was established that the measurement of amplitude-frequency characteristics allows detecting an increase in the concentration of erosion products and determining the moment of electrode breakage with a sufficiently high accuracy. The results of research of vibration signals in the processing of conductive ceramics were given. Monitoring was made directly in the process without removing the tool and the workpiece. The problems of processing conductive ceramics and possible ways to solve them by controlling high-frequency vibrations are shown. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.