Research on the influence of limit wire guide on high thickness cutting of micro high-speed WEDM

In order to further improve the process index of high-thickness cutting of micro high-speed wire electrical discharge machining (micro-WEDM), a self-limiting wire guide (SWG) device was designed, which realized high-performance cutting of workpieces with a thickness of 20 mm by using Φ80 μm wire electrode. The modal simulation results show that the SWG device can increase the natural frequency of the wire electrode and can buffer and isolate the vibration of the wire electrode. Under the same processing conditions, compared with unlimited device processing, the SWG device processing is more stable. The average surface roughness Ra is 2.4 μm, which is 35% lower than that of without limiting device, and there is no obvious reversal stripe on the surface. The uniformity of kerf width and the consistency of cutting size are better. The corner error is reduced by 63.5% when machining a 90° convex corner, and the material removal rate is relatively increased by 7%.