Fabrication of TiN-Cu Electrical Discharge Machining Electrode by Gel Injection Molding

Herein, we reported the novel TiN-Cu electrical discharge machining electrode fabricated by gel injection molding.The gel comprised mixture of TiN-Cu powders, sodium-alginate dispersant and gelatin binder.The influence of the gel properties on the surface microstructures and relative loss-rate of the newly-developed EDM electrode was investigated with scanning electron microscopy to optimize the fabrication conditions.The results show that it is feasible to produce TiN-Cu EDM electrode by gel molding.To be specific, the TiN-Cu EDM electrode, fabricated by gel molding under the optimized conditions:30% (wt.) TiN-Cu, PH-value of 7, 1% sodium-alginate and 1% gelatin, outperforms the commercial red-copper electrode because of lower relative loss-rate of 11.625%, faster machining speed, lower evaporate rate and higher melting point.The problems of low fracture toughness and high micro-defects density on EDM electrode surface, including pores, pits, and cracks, remain to be solved.