On the Electrodischarge Machining of Ceramic Plasma-Sprayed Steel Plates

Summary The present work is 3 follow-up of the extensive research on “surface integrity of mechanically and/or thermally worked steel graces” undertaken by the authors and also a first step into an investigation of the possibilities and limitations of successfully applying EDmachining on non metallic materials of great industrial importance such as electroconductive ceramics ceramic-metal and carbon-fibre reinforced composites in this paper we report an the application of EDMachining to plasma-sparyed WC-Co coatings on HSLA steel substrate. The influence of the intense thermal impact due to EGM upon the main features of the resuited surface is examined in terms of micrgeometry and surface topography. microhardness variation and metallurgical changes in the surface and the subsurface layers. their dependence on the main processing parameters is examined and discussed Comparison is also made with high-strength steel grades EDMachined under the same conditions.