QUALITY OF ALUMINIUM ALLOY SURFACE AFTER WEDM.

Efficient machining using wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) technology is a compromise between cutting speed and resulting surface quality. Typical morphology of the surface machined by WEDM shows a plenty of craters caused by electrospark discharges produced during the cutting process. This work is focused on assessing the impact of machine setting parameters on quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the workpiece surface of aluminium alloy AlZn6Mg2Cu. Using metallography, the surface effects arisen during the process of wire spark erosion on cross-sections of preparations were studied. Using local spot EDX microanalysis, the chemical composition of the surfaces of the samples was studied. The attention was also paid to the highest height of profile of the craters, which were studied using 3D filtered images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]