Experimental Study on Effect of Process Characteristics during Electronic Discharge Machining of Titanium Alloy Using Multi Hole Tool Electrode

Due to outstanding material qualities such as higher strength to weight ratio, resistance to corrosion and resistance to fatigue, titanium alloys (Ti-6Al-4V) are widely applied in aerospace industries. Such a challenging to machine and necessary expensive convenctional machinery materials can cut using Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). This work involves the study of influence of process characteristics on the performance quality of EDM during machining of Ti-6Al-4V. The process characteristics that are considered in this study are Current (9-15amps) or Input power (I.P. of 3-5 kVA), pulse on (60-80 μsec) and pulse off (20-40μsec) times, the pressure of dielectric fluid (6-10 MPa). The effectiveness of the EDM is measured using rate of tool wear (TWR) and rate of material removal (MRR) during machining, taper angle and surface roughness (SR). Dry brass multi hole tool electrode is used along with deionized water as the dielectric medium. Taguchi L18 orthogonal design is used for experimentation. The optimal combination of process characteristics is determined.