EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING OF D3 DIE STEEL WITH AL2O3 ABRASIVE MIXED DIELECTRIC MATERIAL BY USING DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS.

Rajendra.M, G. Krishna Mohana Rao

Abstract: Electrical discharge machining is the most widely used machining process in industries. Its use is particularly intense when very complex shapes on hard materials with a high dimensional accuracy are required. However the technological capability of the process has limited application when there is a requirement of high surface quality and mirror like characteristics. Its operation is characterized by long machining time, high tool wear and uncertainty in the final finish of the surface. However for finish surface, materials are subjected to mechanical polishing after EDM, which is wastage of time and energy. To improve the efficiency and surface finish of the work piece, the abrasive particles of Aluminum oxide (Al2O3 ) are mixed into the dielectric fluid at tool-work interface. In this Abrasive mixed EDM, the Abrasive mixed dielectric fluid facilitate the bridging effect and minimize the insulating strength of the dielectric fluid. As a result it improves the material removal rate and surface roughness. This paper presents the effect of abrasive on the performance of the EDM process. The results of both the processes have been analyzed using Design of experiments to find the significant parameters and to obtain the optimum parameters required for machining. Analyzed results indicate that abrasive particle size and abrasive concentration and pulse current are the most significant parameters that improve the material removal rate in comparison with traditional EDM. A new experimental setup is developed for experimentation. The result shows that the MRR increases with the abrasive mixed EDM.

Keywords: Material removal rate, Abrasive mixed EDM, Dielectric fluid, Design of experiment, Abrasive particle size

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0301102