What are the electrodes on the die?
Because the melting point of copper is 1083oC, and the melting point of graphite will appear in 3400oC. Graphite electrode can bear more machine setting conditions. These settings calculate the rate of metal removal and the amount of graphite loss. If the electrode material needs to be strictly controlled, the graphite electrode can be placed in a non - wear state (loss less than 1%) during rough machining. But the copper electrode is not used. Graphite electrode is easy to process. Graphite milling speed than other metal processing fast 3-4 times, and does not require additional manual processing.
Some shapes of electrodes cannot be made of copper, but graphite is easier to shape. Copper electrode is heavier (graphite, 1/5 of copper), which is not suitable for processing large electrode, which is also one of the reasons for using graphite electrode. The mold factory, from copper electrodes to graphite electrodes, needs to understand how to use graphite materials and consider many other factors. Graphite is divided into different grades and the ideal results can be achieved by using proper grade graphite and machine parameters in special applications. For example, the machine operators using graphite electrodes use the same settings as the copper electrodes, and the results are disappointing.
Graphite electrode has the advantages of easy processing, high metal removal rate and low graphite loss. Therefore, more and more die factories give up the use of copper electrode instead of graphite electrode.
