Title: Research on the working fluid state of pipe cutting process based on EDM

Authors: Xiaojie Tian; Yonghong Liu; Min Wang; Rongju Lin; Zengkai Liu; Pengfei Sun

Addresses: College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266110, China ' College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China ' Drilling Division, CNPC Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd., Tianjin, 266280, China ' College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China ' College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China ' College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China

Abstract: Better exclusion of debris from the machined kerf is very important to obtain a stable machining performance in the EDM process. This research investigates the working fluid velocity and debris movement for the pipe cutting tool based on EDM. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to predict the working fluid field in the cutting kerf. The flow velocity at the transverse cross-section and longitudinal cross-section are all analysed and the debris moving trajectories are achieved. By using the CFD analysis, machining conditions, such as rotating speed, tool electrode width and tool electrode thickness will be analysed for more effective debris exclusion and high performance EDM. A series of experiments are executed to verify the CFD analysis results. And the results show that CFD results are reasonable and instructive for the actual pipe cutting process.

Keywords: pipe cutting tools; EDM; working fluids; cutting technology; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; modelling; flow velocity; rotating speed; tool electrode width; tool electrode thickness; debris exclusion; electro-discharge machining; electrical discharge machining.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2014.064936

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2014 Vol.49 No.4, pp.252 - 266

Received: 06 Apr 2013
Accepted: 01 Dec 2013
Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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