Micro-EDM sustainability: economical optimization and machinability of advanced materials

The micro electrical discharge machining has a set of advantages that make it commercially interesting, with potential for further developments in the future. In this sense, its application to new kind of materials and its optimization has been the focus of many researches. In this work, the micro-electrical discharge machining sustainability, from the economic point of view, related to the technological performances and its new application fields were analysed, focusing on both the challenges and limitations in high-quality products and the relationship between the economic aspects and the performances. This research was divided into two parts, in the first one a model and an index for the economic evaluation of the technologies and the process was developed, correlating the process parameters to the process performances and the product characteristics. The second part of the research took into account the application of this process on a new promising class of advanced materials, which are characterized by a huge range of applications in several fields and in critical environments. The present work contributes to cover a literature gap about the economic aspects of this technology, and at the same time, to extend the state-of-the-art knowledge about the EDM process and its application on advanced materials.