1. Principle

1.1 Material removal mechanisms

The erosion of materials caused by electrical discharges has long been observed. It was while researching the resistance of materials to erosion caused by electrical discharges that two Russian scientists came up with the idea of exploiting this destructive phenomenon for material removal purposes, and developing a controlled metalworking process. The first spark erosion machine was presented in 1943 by the Lazarenko couple. Since then, many improvements have been made, making the process a real machining method, used in many sectors of industry (tooling, aeronautics...).

It should be noted from the outset that the physical nature of material removal by means of electrical discharges is a complex phenomenon, and contradictory...