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Comparative study of different dielectrics for micro-EDM performance during microhole machining of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

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Abstract

In microelectrodischarge machining (micro-EDM), dielectric plays an important role during machining operation. The machining characteristics are greatly influenced by the nature of dielectric used during micro-EDM machining. Present paper addresses the issues of micro-EDM utilizing different types of dielectrics such as kerosene, deionized water, boron carbide (B4C) powder suspended kerosene, and deionized water to explore the influence of these dielectrics on the performance criteria such as material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), overcut, diameteral variance at entry and exit hole and surface integrity during machining of titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V). The experimental results revealed that MRR and TWR are higher using deionized water than kerosene. Also, when suspended particles, i.e., boron carbide-mixed dielectrics are used, MRR is found to increase with deionized water, but TWR decreases with kerosene dielectric. Further analysis is carried out with the help of scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs, and it is found that the thickness of white layer is less on machined surface when deionized water is used as compared to kerosene. Also, a comparative study of machining time has been carried out for the four types of dielectrics at different machining parametric settings. Furthermore, the investigation on the machined surface integrity and wear on microtool tip have also been done in each type of the dielectrics with the help of SEM micrographs and optical photographs. Hence micro-EDM machining on Ti-6Al-4V work material with B4C-mixed dielectrics is performed in the investigation and reported the performance criteria of the process. It can be concluded from the research investigation that there is a great influence of mixing of boron carbide additive in deionized water dielectrics for enhancing machining performance characteristics in micro-EDM during microhole generation on Ti-6Al-4V alloy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Production Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700 032, India

    G. Kibria, B. R. Sarkar & B. Bhattacharyya

  2. Mechanical Engineering Department, SMIT, Majitar, Sikkim, India

    B. B. Pradhan

Authors
  1. G. Kibria
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  2. B. R. Sarkar
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  3. B. B. Pradhan
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  4. B. Bhattacharyya
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Correspondence to B. Bhattacharyya.

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Kibria, G., Sarkar, B.R., Pradhan, B.B. et al. Comparative study of different dielectrics for micro-EDM performance during microhole machining of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 48, 557–570 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-009-2298-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-009-2298-y

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