Increasing the Relative Density of Additively Manufactured Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Tool Electrodes for EDM

The investigation of novel materials for the use of tool electrodes for electrical discharge machining (EDM) is necessary to meet the increasing demands for complex products to be machined. Continuous product developments require improvements in manufacturing processes such as Sinking Electrical Discharge Machining (S-EDM). To meet these requirements, the development of customized EDM-processes and innovative tool designs is essential. Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables the production of sophisticated tool electrode geometries. This includes internal flushing channels for EDM-processes with minimal design constraints. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is a suitable method for this purpose. The presented paper shows an investigation to further increase the relative density ρrel of additively manufactured S-EDM tool electrodes using tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) as material for tool electrodes.