Analyzing the Effect of Machining Parameters in EDM for Controlling Electrode Wear Rate (EWR): A Critical Study for Sustainable Production

Abstract: Electrical discharge machining (EDM), also known as spark machining, spark eroding and die sinking machining process, is a metal removal process where desired shape can be obtained by using electrical discharges (sparks). Material is removed from the work piece by a series of rapidly recurring current discharges between two electrodes, which is separated by a dielectric liquid and subject to an electric voltage. EDM is one of the efficient machining processes for manufacturing geometrically complex or hard material parts that are extremely difficult-to- machine by conventional machining processes. Inconel 825 is a family of austenite Nickel-Chromium based super alloys and having wide application in numerous engineering fields. The presented study provides a valuable insight for the selection of the process parameters setting in Electrical Discharge Machine (EDM) in order to minimize electrode wear ratio (EWR) by using copper electrode materials. It is found that optimal process parameters setting is Ton1Toff1Vg2Sg1 for minimizing EWR. The results clearly depict that the combination of independent process parameters i.e. Ton, Toff, Vg and Sg is found as 100, 20, 60 and 005 for optimizing EWR

Keywords: Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM); Taguchi Technique; Orthogonal Array (OA); Electrode Wear Rate (EWR).