Gianluca Danilo D'Urso

Product Cost Modelling for Micro-EDM Drilling

The recent miniaturization of components in manufacturing has increased the production of lightweight and sophisticated systems in many different industrial fields. Micro Electro Discharge Machining (micro-EDM) is one of the most extensively used contactless and chipless machining processes. Although it is one of the most used technology, there are a few research works which investigate the economic implications of this machining. This paper reports a model cost to estimate μEDM-machining costs, including fixed and variable costs. A case study was presented taking into account micro holes on stainless steel obtained using different electrode materials. The capability of the model was demonstrated.

Using voxels in the simulation of manufacturing processes

The present paper introduces the use of voxels embedded in an octree structure in order to numerically simulate manufacturing processes. In particular, micro electrical discharge machining (μEDM) is used here as a case study. The involved elements (tool and workpiece) are modelized in a volumetric manner using voxels and the process is simulated on a step-by step basis. Comparisons using the Hausdorff metric with experimental results are included and discussed.