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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Wire breakage and deection caused by nozzle jet ushing in wire EDM
A. Okada (2)a,*, T. Konishi a, Y. Okamoto a, H. Kurihara b
a
b

Graduate School of Natural Science & Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 7008530, Japan
EDM R&D Division, Makino Milling Machine Co., Ltd., Aiko-gun 2430303, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Keywords:
Wire EDM
Flow
Wire breakage

High ow rate in nozzle jet ushing is effective for smooth debris exclusion from the wire EDM gap, but
this leads to large wire deection and vibration, resulting in the wire breakage and low shape accuracy. In
this paper, the inuence of nozzle jet ushing on wire breakage was experimentally investigated with
varying the machined kerf length and machining conditions. Furthermore, the ow elds and debris
residence time in the kerf, hydrodynamic stress distributions acting on the wire, and wire deections
were numerically analyzed. Based on the analyzed results, the causes of wire breakage were discussed.
2015 CIRP.

1. Introduction
In wire EDM, smooth exclusions of debris and bubbles from the
gap and reduction of wire vibration are important to obtain a stable
machining performance [1,2]. Much debris stagnation in the gap
and large wire vibration result in wire breakage, low removal rate,
and low shape accuracy [36]. The debris exclusion is conventionally done by jet ushing using nozzles. In general, high ow rate
from the nozzles is more effective for smooth debris exclusion but
it may bring the wire breakage [7,8].
For the wire vibration and breakage phenomena, Dauw [3,9]
analyzed the wire deection due to discharge explosive forces. Han
[4] simulated the rough cut surface geometry with vibrating wire.
Rajurkar [10] investigated the inuence of sparking frequency on
wire breakage to develop an on-line WEDM monitoring system.
Mohri [11] and Obara [12] also investigated the wire vibration and
the model was proposed. However, they are mostly based on the
effects of discharge or wire conditions, and there is no paper
focusing on the quantitative effect of hydrodynamic force due to jet
ushing. In addition, frequent wire breakage at a particular
machined kerf length is well known in the practical wire EDM.
However, ow elds around the wire, hydrodynamic stress
distributions on the wire due to jet ushing and their inuences
on the wire breakage have not yet been claried sufciently, since
such unsteady ow eld is not easy to clarify and a precise inprocess observation of debris movements is difcult [13,14].
In this paper, the inuence of machined kerf length on the wire
breakage is experimentally investigated. Furthermore, ow elds
and debris residence time in the kerf, hydrodynamic stress
distributions acting on the wire, and the wire deections due to
jet ushing are numerically analyzed by computational uid
dynamics (CFD) and structural analysis. Based on the analyzed

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: okada@mech.okayama-u.ac.jp (A. Okada).

results, optimum jet ushing conditions to prevent wire breakage

are discussed.
2. Inuence of machined kerf length on wire breakage
In the manufacturing site using a wire EDM, frequent wire
breakage at a particular machined kerf length is well known. In
order to clarify the effect of machined kerf length on wire breakage,
wire breakage frequency with machined kerf length was rst
investigated by the experiments using wire ED machine.
Fig. 1 shows distribution of wire breakage frequency with
machined kerf length when a straight kerf was machined into steel
plate of 10.0 mm in thickness using a brass wire. Duty factor was
set to higher value than the machine-maker-recommended one in
order to make the wire breakage easier to occur. Jet ushing was
applied using upper and lower nozzles, in which the jet ow
direction was along with the wire running. The machining
conditions are shown in Table 1. As shown in the gure, wire
breakage frequently occurs when the kerf length is between
1.0 and 2.0 mm, and the frequency until 2.0 mm is about 85%.
When longer kerf than 3.0 mm can be machined, the wire breakage

Fig. 1. Wire breakage frequency distribution with machined kerf length.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.034
0007-8506/ 2015 CIRP.

Please cite this article in press as: Okada A, et al. Wire breakage and deection caused by nozzle jet ushing in wire EDM. CIRP Annals Manufacturing Technology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.034

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2
Table 1
Machining conditions.
Workpiece
Wire electrode
Jet ushing nozzle diameter
Wire running speed
Wire tension
Working uid
Nozzle stand-off distance
Flow rate from nozzles
Wire ED machine

SKD 11 (t = 10.0 mm)

Hard brass 200 mm in dia.
6.0 mm
10.0 m/min
12 N
Deionized water
0.5 mm
6.0 L/min
Sodick AQ 550 L

never occurs. Under different ow rates of jet ushing, for different

workpiece thickness of 50 mm in thickness, similar wire breakage
frequency distributions with kerf length were obtained.
3. CFD analysis model
Fig. 2 shows CFD analysis model for solving the ow eld in
EDMed kerf using jet ushing nozzles. This three dimensional
model is based on an actual wire EDM for steel plate using
deionized water under 1st cut conditions. The details of CFD model
conditions are listed in Table 2. In order to calculate the wire
electrode deection with jet ushing, the model includes the inside
regions of upper and lower nozzles. On the upper and lower
boundary surfaces, ow inlet circles of 6.0 mm in diameter
were set for nozzle jet ushing, in which the ow rate was set
to 6.0 L/min. The workpiece thickness is 10.0 mm and the length of
machined kerf LM is varied. The nozzle stand-off distance is set to
0.5 mm. The wire electrode diameter is 200 mm and the width of
machined kerf is 250 mm. Then the gap is 25 mm.
The simulations presented in this study are processed by using
a commercial software package of STAR-CCM+ Ver.5.02. This
software operates by solving the governing differential equations
of the ow physics including NavierStokes equations by
numerical means on a computational cell. The cell size adjacent
to the wire electrode was small enough to simulate precisely, and
the other parts were a little coarse for saving computational time.
The uid ows, the debris tracks and the pressure distributions
were calculated by a nite volume method as an unsteady
turbulent ow with Ke model [15].
A downward velocity of 10 mm/min was given to the wire
circumference surface to realize the actual wire running. A
pressure boundary condition was set to a level of 10 mm above
the upper surface workpiece. No slip condition was applied to the
surfaces of workpiece, nozzle and wire. The effects of impact force
associated with discharge sparks, bubbles behavior, electrostatic
force acting on wire electrode, and wire vibration were neglected,
since CFD analysis that considers these factors is impossible or very

difcult under the current CFD techniques. However, the verication by the high-speed observation in our previous study proved
that the CFD analysis results could well simulate the actual ow
elds and debris movement in the gap without considering these
effects [8,13].
4. Effect of machined kerf length on debris exclusion
Fig. 3 shows the analyzed ow elds in the kerf with varying the
machined kerf length. When the machined kerf length is as short as
0.5 mm, the ow from nozzle drifted out of the machined kerf
without owing into the kerf. In the case of 1.0 mm kerf length, the
ow from the jet ushing nozzle branches into inside and outside
of the machined kerf. When the machined kerf length is 2.0 mm,
the ow owing into the machined kerf increases and stagnation
area generates behind the wire at the middle region in the kerf. In
this range of the machined kerf length, it was conrmed that the
ow of the working uid was unsteady, in which the direction of
the ow in machined kerf alternately changes upward and
downward. The pressure distribution in the kerf also changes
unsteady. When the kerf length is longer than 3.0 mm, most ow
from the jet ushing nozzle ows into the machined kerf and the
ow eld becomes steady. From these results, it is considered that
debris exclusion and wire behavior become unsteady due to great
turbulence in the machined kerf when the machined kerf length is
shorter than 2.0 mm.
In order to clarify the effect of machined kerf length on the
debris exclusion, a particle tracking analysis by Lagrangian liquid
solid ow model was done. Fig. 4 shows the model, in which
5 debris particles are arranged in front of wire in each layer, and
there are 10 layers every 1.0 mm along the wire direction.
Therefore, 50 particles in total generates in the front gap every
1.0 s in the model. One example of debris particle tracking
simulation is also shown. The particle color indicates the residence
time of the particle in the kerf. Due to the generation of triangular

Fig. 3. Difference in ow eld with machined kerf length.

Fig. 2. CFD analysis model.

Table 2
CFD model conditions.
Jet ushing nozzle diameter
Wire running speed
Fluid density (deionized water)
Fluid viscosity (deionized water)
Nozzle stand-off distance
Flow rate from nozzles

6.0 mm
10.0 m/min
6.676  102 kg/m3
8.887  10 4 Pa s
0.5 mm
6.0 L/min

Fig. 4. Debris tracking analysis by two phase ow CFD simulation.

Please cite this article in press as: Okada A, et al. Wire breakage and deection caused by nozzle jet ushing in wire EDM. CIRP Annals Manufacturing Technology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.034

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Fig. 5. Variation of debris particle residence time in kerf with machined kerf length.

stagnation area behind the wire at the middle region of the kerf
shown above, some particles are trapped by the stagnation area
and remain in the kerf for a long time.
From the simulation results, the debris particle residence time
in the kerf with the machined kerf length was calculated and
plotted in Fig. 5. As shown in the gure, the average particle
residence time in the kerf is longer, when it is shorter than 1.5 mm.
This is because the ow from nozzle drifts out of the machined kerf
without owing into the kerf, as shown above. When the length
becomes 2.0 mm, the residence time drastically decreases, since
the ow from the nozzle toward the kerf increases. When the kerf
length is longer than 2.5 mm, the residence time increases with an
increase of kerf length.
5. Hydrodynamic force acting on wire caused by jet ushing
There are two types of forces acting on the wire with jet ushing
of working uid. One is pressure acting perpendicular to the wire
surface, and another is shear stress acting parallel. Fig. 6 shows
pressure distributions on the wire surface around the upper edge
of workpiece using the normal nozzle. At the upper edge of
workpiece, the pressure acting on the front surface of wire is higher
than that on the back one. Also around the lower edge of
workpiece, the situation is the same. Furthermore, the pressure
acting on the wire inside the kerf is lower, and the difference
between pressures acting on the front and back wire surfaces is
extremely small inside the kerf. These results show that the wire is
forced backward concentratedly only around the upper and lower
edges of workpiece by the jet ushing. Shear stress distributions on
the wire surface were also calculated but the value was
approximately 1 kPa at a maximum, which is much smaller than
the maximum pressure acting on the wire 225 kPa. Therefore,
shear stress acting on the wire surface can be neglected in the
simulation for the wire deection discussed later. In order to
simulate the wire deection with jet ushing, the distributions of
pressure acting on the wire surface by jet ushing obtained by the
CFD analysis were given to the wire surface in the structural
analysis model. The structural analysis of wire was attempted by a
commercial program of ANSYS Rev.14.0. The wire material is

Fig. 6. Pressure distributions on the wire surface around the upper edge of
workpiece using normal nozzle.

assumed to hard brass, and the wire is constrained in xy

directions at the upper and lower wire ends, considering the actual
wire support with wire guides. Wire tension is realized by giving
vertical tensile load at the both ends of wire. The structural
analysis conditions are listed in Table 3. The wire tension is xed to
12.0 N in the following. The model is divided into sufciently small
computational cells to simulate precisely. The wire deections are
calculated by a nite volume method.
Fig. 7 shows the wire deection in upper half of the analyzed area
when the kerf length is varied. The machining direction is leftward,
and the horizontal scale of the wire displacement is amplied here to
emphasize the difference in wire deection. It is understood that the
wire electrode is deected backward under any machined kerf
length, and the displacement takes a maximum when the kerf length
is around 2.0 mm. Fig. 8 shows the variation of wire deection with
kerf length. When the kerf length is shorter than 2.0 mm, the ow
elds were not steady, as shown above. Then, the wire deection
value uctuated with times even when the machined kerf length did
not change. Therefore, ve wire deection values at ve different
times were calculated in each kerf length, and the mean values are
plotted with an error bar in the graph. As shown in the graph, the wire
deection and the variations are larger than those in the cases of
other kerf length because of its very unsteady ow eld when it is
shorter than 2.0 mm. In this case, the most ow from the jet ushing
nozzles goes out from behind the workpiece without owing into the
kerf. The wire deection takes maximum at 2.0 mm, since the ow
from the nozzle branches into inside and outside of the machined kerf
and the ow led in the kerf was most unsteady. When the machined

Table 3
Structural analysis conditions.
Wire material
Density
Youngs modulus, Poisson ratio
Distance between wire guides
Wire tension

Brass (200 mm dia.)

8.4 g/cm3
106 GPa, 0.35
27.0 mm
12.0 N

Fig. 7. Difference in wire deection with machined kerf length.

Fig. 8. Variation of wire deection with machined kerf length.

Please cite this article in press as: Okada A, et al. Wire breakage and deection caused by nozzle jet ushing in wire EDM. CIRP Annals Manufacturing Technology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.034

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Fig. 9. Observation of wire deection caused by hydrodynamic force with nozzle jet
ushing.

kerf length is longer, the wire deection gradually decreases with kerf
length, since the ow eld in the kerf becomes stable.
In order to verify the accuracy of CFD and structural simulations
of wire deection, an actual wire deection caused by the
hydrodynamic force with jet ushing was measured. The
observation model is shown in Fig. 9. The workpiece thickness
is as thick as 150 mm, and the wire tension is as low as 1.0 N to
obviously observe actual wire deection. For observing a wire
deection, a small notch was rst machined at the middle of
workpiece, as shown in the gure. Next, the kerf of 10.0 mm in
length was wire-EDMed under a higher wire tension, and the wire
was stopped at the edge of the notch. Then, the movement of wire
was observed through the small notch by using a zoom video
camera when the wire is subjected to jet ushing.
Two photographs are the images inside the notch with and
without jet ushing. In the photographs, the right side black area is
the shadow of wire. As can be seen from the photographs, the
difference in position between wire front lines is about 86 mm,
while the wire deection simulated by the CFD and structural
analysis under the same ushing condition is 105 mm. With the
backward wire deection, the ow eld and pressure eld around
the wire changes in the observation model, which would leads to
small decrease in the wire deection. Considering this factor, it can
be judged that the simulations in the present paper well expresses
the actual wire deection.

2.0 and 3.0 mm, the kerf width decreases due to the decrease in the
wire deection with short debris residence time. At longer length,
it becomes wider due to large increase in debris residence time in
the kerf.
In addition, it can be understood that the ow eld, the debris
residence time, and the wire deection directly inuence the wire
breakage. When the kerf length is 1.02.0 mm, the wire breakage
frequently occurs due to the unstable ow eld, large wire
deection, and debris accumulation. When the machined kerf
length is 2.03.0 mm, the wire breakage frequency decreases, since
the ow eld becomes stable, and wire deection and debris
stagnation decrease. Therefore, there is a good correlation between
the wire breakage frequency and the wire deection. In wire EDM,
it is well known that the factors affecting the wire deection are
impact force associated with spark occurrence, and electrical static
force between the wire and the workpiece during the application of
open voltage. It is concluded from these results that hydrodynamic
force due to jet ushing with nozzle is also one of the dominant
factor causing the wire deection and wire breakage. Therefore, in
order to prevent wire breakage, it would be effective to
appropriately adjust the jet ushing conditions, such as ow rate
and the nozzle stand-off distance, particularly when the machined
kerf length is short in early machining stage. Furthermore, it was
conrmed that the wire breakage frequency in the early machining
stage could be greatly reduced by applying the optimum jet
ushing conditions with small wire deection calculated using the
structural and CFD simulation.
7. Conclusions
The inuence of nozzle jet ushing on wire breakage was
investigated, and the wire EDM experiments showed that wire
breakage often occurred at a particular short machined kerf length.
The causes of wire breakage were discussed based on simulation
results of debris stagnation in the kerf and wire deections. The
wire deection due to hydrodynamic force with jet ushing can be
accurately simulated by the developed simulation model. The wire
deection due to jet ushing becomes larger and the debris easily
accumulates in the gap at the particular short kerf length, which
causes high frequency of wire breakage.

6. Inuence of nozzle jet ushing on wire electrode

Fig. 10 shows the variation of kerf width Wk with the kerf length
LM when the straight kerf of 10.0 mm was wire-EDMed. The
variations of wire breakage frequency, wire deection D and debris
residence time Tr were shown again in the graph. The kerf width is
constantly large when the kerf length is shorter than 2.0 mm and
then a little decrease with the length. At the longer kerf length, it
greatly increases. The variations of kerf width would result from
the wire behavior during wire EDM and the debris accumulation in
the gap. In other words, when the kerf length is shorter than
2.0 mm the width becomes wide due to large wire deection and
vibration with long debris residence time in the gap. Between

Fig. 10. Inuences of wire deection and debris residence time on machined kerf
width and wire breakage frequency.

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Please cite this article in press as: Okada A, et al. Wire breakage and deection caused by nozzle jet ushing in wire EDM. CIRP Annals Manufacturing Technology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.034