Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) is a "difficult-to-cut" material. High precision machining of this material is problematic because it is difficult to control the material removal rate and maintain acceptable accuracy. This paper describes an application of electrodischarge machining (EDM) for drilling micro holes in c-BN. The goal of this research was to determine a set of parameters and technical specifications for such a process. We used an isoenergetic transistor power supply with a microsecond voltage pulse generator and a tungsten tool electrode of diameter d = 381 μm. Each hole was drilled for 10 min. The holes did not exceed 410 μm in diameter and were at least 1000 μm deep. The process was carried out in a hydrocarbon dielectric liquid. We assess the quality of the holes from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. The results show that electrodischarge is a precise, accurate, and efficient method for machining c-BN.
Keywords: cubic boron nitride; drilling; electrodischarge micromachining.