Manufacturing of graphite electrodes with high geometrical requirements

Graphite is widely used for the die-sinking electrical discharge machining (EDM) process, especially for the roughing process. For the manufacturing of graphite electrodes the milling process is mainly used. The process enables fast processing times tP and high geometrical flexibility. In consequence of the cutting behaviour of graphite micro-components with geometrical features can be manufactured. In this contribution the manufacturing of micro-pins and bridges with aspect ratios of A = 1:50 were machined with diamond coated milling tools. By variation of the depth of cut ap and the width of cut ae it can be shown that the influence of the depth of cut ap is quite bigger than the influence of the width of cut ae. This results in consequence of the higher stability of the geometrical features by improved force distribution.