What Is Electrical Discharge Machining and How to Use It

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a thermoelectric method of removing metal from a workpiece through a series of sparks between the metal and the workpiece. It is considered a non-traditional method because it does not need mechanical force in the removal process, which is in the same way as laser cutting. An electric spark discharge (thus the name) is used as a cutting tool to cut (erode) a workpiece to a desired final shape in EDM. Thus, EDM has been the preferred method for complex and high-accuracy machining applications that would be difficult or impossible to perform using conventional metal removal processes. Here, we’ll discuss more on what EDM is and how it is used.