Investigation of additive manufactured tungsten carbide-cobalt tool electrodes for sinking EDM

Increasing product complexity and continuous developments in related tool and mould making industry require ongoing advances in manufacturing processes like electrical discharge machining (EDM). To meet the increasing requirements, the development of adapted EDM processes and tool designs is necessary. Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the manufacturing of complex tool electrode geometries with interior flushing channels for EDM processes with very few restrictions regarding the design. This accounts even for tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co), which is a suitable material for EDM tool electrodes with various advantages, e.g. thermal and mechanical stability. This paper shows first results of additive manufactured WC-Co tool electrodes for the use in sinking EDM and the related development process.