Thermal analysis for the large precision EDM machine tool considering the spark energy during long-time processing

Thermal error is a major factor influencing the accuracy of large precision electrical discharge machining (EDM) machine tools, especially when processing continuously for a long time. In this paper, a novel thermal analysis model was set up to identify the static and dynamic thermal behaviour of the large EDM machine tool. The thermal effect of multiple spark discharges is considered. An equivalent heat flux method was proposed to model the intermittent heat flux for the first time. Both the steady and transient analyses were applied to investigate the thermal equilibrium time of critical points. It is found that when the study point is far away from the heat source, the longer thermal equilibrium time is needed. And the thermal equilibrium time of the machine tool was also estimated. Verification experiment has been performed, indicating the simulation accuracy of 87 % on the temperature rise of the electrode. Moreover, on the displacement of the spindle, the simulated result matched with the experimental result in Z direction error of 7 %. Finally, suggestions for reducing the thermal deformation were proposed to further improve the machining accuracy of large EDM machine tools.