The purpose of this research was to investigate the surface modifications that take place during the machining of NiTi SMA and Ti-6Al-4V with micro-EDM. This was done by creating an array of blind holes and micro-patterns on both work-pieces. To analyze the machined surface and investigate the results, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X- ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed. In addition, the effects of various operating parameters on the machining performance was studied to identify the optimum parameters for micro-EDM of NiTi SMA and Ti-6Al-4V. Recently, aerospace and biomedical industries have placed a high demand on nonconventional machining processes, which can be used to machine high strength and hardto- cut materials such as Titanium alloys, Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) and Super Alloys. Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is one of the non-traditional technologies that remove materials from the workpiece through a series of electrical sparks that occur between the workpiece and cutting tool with the presence of dielectric liquid. Obtaining smooth and defect-free surfaces on both workpieces was one of the challenges due to the re-solidified debris on the machined surface. The experimental results showed that there was significant amount of re-casting and formation of resolidification of debris on the Ti surface after machining. On the other hand, the surface generated in NiTi SMA were comparatively smoother with lesser amount of resolidified debris on the surface. By analyzing the results from XRD and EDS, some elements of electrode and dielectric materials such as Tungsten, Carbon and Oxygen were observed on NiTi and Ti surface after machining. In the study of effect of operating parameters, it was found that the voltage, capacitance and tool rotational speed had significant effect on machining time. The machining time was reduced by increasing the voltage, capacitance and tool rotational speed. The machining time was found to be comparatively higher for machining NiTi SMA than Ti alloy. Comparing all the parameters, the voltage of 60 V, capacitance of 1000 PF, and tool rotational speed of 3500 RPM were selected as optimum parameters for this study. Although signs of tool electrode wear and debris particles on the machined surface were observed for both workpieces during the micro-EDM process, Ti alloy and NiTi SMA could be machined successfully using the micro-EDM process.

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a non-traditional machining process that uses hundreds of thousands of minute electrical sparks per second to machine any electrically conductive material, no matter the hardness or how delicate it is. EDM allows a much greater range of design possibilities, unconstrained from the traditional machining processes, in which material is removed mechanically by either rotating the cutting tool or the work piece. Shapes that were impossible to machine by any other method, such as deep, precision, square holes and slots with sharp inside corners, are readily produced. It provides accurate geometries in high- aspect ratio holes and slots, blind undercuts, small holes adjacent to deep sidewalls, and complex cuts in thin, fragile parts. Micro-EDM is a growing form of manufacturing and will continue to expand within various production fields. Micro-EDM is especially attractive for the applications where the cutting time is minimal, but precision and accuracy are maximized. Micro- EDM is a non-traditional cutting process, which consistently produces ultra-precise holes with fine surface finishes and better roundness, while holding extremely close diameter tolerances. The process could be an excellent problem-solving tool for configurations that are difficult or impossible to produce using conventional machining processes. This study presents a comparative experimental investigation on the micro-EDM machinability of difficult-to-cut Ti-6Al-4V and soft brass materials. As both materials are electrically conductive, they were machinable using the micro-EDM process irrespective of their hardness. The machining performance of the two materials was evaluated based on the quality of the micro-features produced by the micro-EDM process. Both blind and through micro-holes and micro-slots were machined on brass and Ti-6Al-4V materials. The quality of micro-features was assessed based on the shape accuracy, surface finish and profile accuracy of the features. Finally, the arrays of micro-features were machined on both materials to compare the mass production capability of micro-EDM process on those materials.

To survive in today's manufacturing environments companies must push the standards of accuracy and speed to the highest levels possible. Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) has been used for over 50 years and recent developments have seen the use of EDM become much more viable. The goal of this research is to produce and evaluate electrodes produced by different manufacturing methods. The use of electroforming and spray-metal deposition has only recently become viable methods of producing usable rapid tooling components. The speed and accuracy as well as the cost of manufacture play a vital role in the tool and mould manufacturing process. Electroforming and spray-metal deposition offer an alternate option to traditional machining of electrodes. Electroforming is one method of producing electrodes for EDM. The fact that electroforming can be used to produce multiple electrodes simultaneously gives it the advantage of saving on costs when multiple electrodes are needed. Spray-metal deposition offers another alternative that is much cheaper and relatively faster to manufacture. The used of these non-traditional manufacturing methods in this research are compared to the performance of traditional solid electrodes in terms of machining time, material removal rate, tool wear rates and surface roughness at several standard machining settings. The results of this research are presented in this thesis along with conclusions and comments on the performance of the different methods of electrode manufacture. The major findings of the research include the solid electrodes performed better than the electroformed electrodes in Material Removal Rate (MRR), Tool Wear Rate (TWR), and Surface Roughness (Ra) at all machine settings. However it was found that the production cost of the solid electrodes was six times that of the electroformed electrodes. The production of spray metal electrodes was unsuccessful. The electrode shell walls were not an even thickness and the backing material broke through the shell making them unusable. It is concluded that with further refinements and research, electroforming and spray metal processes will become an extremely competitive method in electrode manufacture and other rapid tooling processes.

The continuing trends of miniaturisation, mass customisation, globalisation and wide use of the Internet have great impacts upon manufacturing in the 21st century. Micro manufacturing will play an increasingly important role in bridging the gap between the traditional precision manufacturing and the emerging technologies like MEMS/NEMS. The key requirements for micro manufacturing in this context are hybrid manufacturing capability, modularity, reconfigurability, adaptability and energy/resource efficiency. The existing design approaches tend to have narrow scope and are largely limited to individual manufacturing processes and applications. The above requirements demand a fundamentally new approach to the future applications of micro manufacturing so as to obtain producibility, predictability and productivity covering the full process chains and value chains. A novel generic modular reconfigurable platform (GMRP) is proposed in such a context. The proposed GMRP is able to offer hybrid manufacturing capabilities, modularity, reconfigurablity and adaptivity as both an individual machine tool and a micro manufacturing system, and provides a cost effective solution to high value micro manufacturing in an agile, responsive and mass customisation manner. An integrated framework has been developed to assist the design of GMRPs due to their complexity. The framework incorporates theoretical GMRP model, design support system and extension interfaces. The GMRP model covers various relevant micro manufacturing processes and machine tool elements. The design support system includes a user-friendly interface, a design engine for design process and design evaluation, together with scalable design knowledge base and database. The functionalities of the framework can also be extended through the design support system interface, the GMRP interface and the application interface, i.e. linking to external hardware and/or software modules. The design support system provides a number of tools for the analysis and evaluation of the design solutions. The kinematic simulation of machine tools can be performed using the Virtual Reality toolbox in Matlab. A module has also been developed for the multiscale modelling, simulation and results analysis in Matlab. A number of different cutting parameters can be studied and the machining performance can be subsequently evaluated using this module. The mathematical models for a non-traditional micro manufacturing process, micro EDM, have been developed with the simulation performed using FEA. Various design theories and methodologies have been studied, and the axiomatic design theory has been selected because of its great power and simplicity. It has been applied in the conceptual design of GMRP and its design support system. The implementation of the design support system is carried out using Matlab, Java and XML technologies. The proposed GMRP and framework have been evaluated through case studies and experimental results.

Denna uppsats syfte är att undersöka produktionstekniker som används för att skapa elektronisk dansmusik och att analysera hur sådana verktyg och metoder används, sett ur en producents synvinkel. Bakgrunden till uppsatsen är en strävan efter att djupare förstå produktionstekniker för elektronisk dansmusik och utveckla kunskap om hur sådana kan användas i egen produktion av elektronisk dansmusik. Uppsatsen empiriska material består av två musikstyckeanalyser i genren house. De analyserade musikstyckena har valts ut eftersom de är aktuella, båda har producerats under 2017 och de innehåller olika, för elektronisk dansmusik, karaktäristiska drag. Vidare har de bedömts kunna bidra med förståelse för och kunskap om hur dessa musikstycken är producerade och varför de låter som det gör men också ökad generell kunskap om aktuella produktionstekniker för produktion av elektronisk dansmusik. Analysens resultat ger exempel på hur en producent kan tänka när hen producerar elektronisk dansmusik. Exemplen omfattar byggstenar för produktionen i form av tekniska verktyg och metoder som till exempel sampling samt vikten av hur ett musikstyckes arrangemang är utformat.

Elektronisk dansmusik, även förkortat EDM, är en väldigt bred genre med många förgreningar trots att den är relativt ung. På bara drygt hundra år har både teknik och musik gått ifrån att vara två helt separata ting till att tillsammans utgöra en hel genre, och tillsammans med teknikens utveckling har EDM blivit en av de största genrerna som existerar idag. Arbetet har som syfte att undersöka utvecklingen av olika subgenrer i den breda genren EDM för att få en förståelse för händelseförloppet och viktiga faktorer för musikens utveckling. De två frågeställningarna som har format arbetet är “Hur har utvecklingen för EDM sett ut under 1900-talet” och “Vilka tidiga förgreningar finns och vilka element skiljer dem åt”. För att undersöka gjordes det först en sammanfattning av teknikens och den EDMs historia. I den här delen redovisas viktiga uppfinningar, betydelsefulla karaktärer för utvecklingen av elektronisk musik samt utvecklingen av tidiga fördelningar ifrån huvudgenren. Utöver det här gjordes även en musikanalys av åtta stycken musikaliska verk tillhörande olika subgenrer. Sammanställningen av historia och resultaten ifrån analysen visade att förgreningar av subgenrer är starkt knuten till den teknologiska utvecklingen. Resultaten visade också att ju mer fördelningar som förekommer desto mer extrem och avancerad blir musiken.

A plasma arc erosion process can be used to create metal and metal oxide particles in the ultra-fine size range (<70 µm). An electric arc is struck between two metallic electrodes, submerged in water, melting the surface of the electrodes. When the arc collapses a high energy pressure wave strikes the molten surface of the electrode. When the pressure wave strikes the molten metal, small metallic particles are created from the molten metal and are immediately cooled in the water. Previous research developed a process that used a constant current power supply and electrode motion to create ultra-fine particles. This research improves upon previous research by using a pulsed power supply similar to those used in Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). The pulsed power supply eliminates the need for electrode motion and improves the rate of particle production, provides control over size of the particles created, and reduces the amount of energy needed to produce the particles. The new process improves the maximum particle production rate from 3.6 g/hr to 14 g/hr, provides a method to control the mean diameter of the particles produced, and reduces the amount of energy needed from 200 kWh/kg(previous constant current process) to 10.6 kWh/kg(using the pulsed power supply).

This thesis talk about practical application of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM), which belongs to electro-erosion machining methods. This thesis is focused on the production of cutting dies produced by company FOR MIX s.r.o. Trenčín. We can consider the cutting die as a typical product of company´s product program. In the practical part of this diploma thesis, there is detail of technological aspects and operating costs for wire electrical discharge machining technology in specific condition of company FOR MIX s.r.o.

Measurement of the force loading is a significant type of measurement in mechanical engineering applied to analyse important aspects in the machining process. In addition to the determination of specific material constants, it is possible to analyse, for example, various machining strategies, geometries of tools or the degree of wear of the cutting edges of cutting tools. This master’s thesis deals especially with the last two mentioned aspects which are subjects of an experiment on end mills with PCD inserts sharpened by a different technology. In the introductory part the cutting forces are theoretically analysed along with their measurement possibilities and the technology of the production of the mills including their sharpening – WEDM and EDM-G. One chapter is concerned with the milling of plastic materials, as PVC was the material used for the workpiece during the experiment. The first experimental part is devoted to the analysis of sharpened tools followed by the measurement of forces using the piezoelectric dynamometer and the subsequent analysis of the influence of the different tool geometry. The last conducted experiment monitors how the overall cutting forces of individual end mills sharpened by different technology changed over specific milling time slots.

The presented diploma thesis deals with the issue of wire electrical discharge machining of SiSiC ceramics. The first part explains the principles of electrical discharge machining, describes the WEDM technology and presents the properties of the advanced ceramics. The second part consists of a detailed analysis of the cutting process of eighteen samples obtained with systematically changing process parameters. Based on the obtained results from EDX analysis, SEM electron microscopy and topography there was performed an analysis of the influence of process parameters on the cutting speed, surface roughness, kerf width and number of wire breaks with usage of the selected brass cutting wire. From the evaluated results it was possible to select a combination of parameters that ensured a stable machining process.