International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management

(IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 Page 20


ABSTRACT
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is one of the non-traditional machining processes, based on thermo electric energy
between the work piece and an electrode. In this process, the material removal is occurred electro thermally by a series of
successive discrete discharges between electrode and the work piece. The optimization of the parameters of the EDM
machining has been carried out by using the taguchis method for design of experiments (DOE). In recent years many ways
has been found for improving the MRR of the WORK PIECE. Taguchi method has been used for design of experiments with
three input parameters and their three levels using L9 array. In the research nine experiment had been done along with
copper tool material as well as AISI 304L material had been used as a work piece. The dielectric used is kerosene diluted with
water. The main objective of the research is the analysis to optimize the process parameters of EDM with the help of taguchi
method and using Minitab software in terms of MMR. The different parameters considered while carrying out the
experiments on EDM would be the current, Ton, Toff, Time required, Depth of cut etc,. The research findings show that the
copper having high material removal rate with respect to other material such as aluminum, gun metal, brass, etc.
1. INTRODUCTION
Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is an electro-thermal non-traditional machining process, where electrical energy
is used to generate electrical spark and material removal mainly occurs due to thermal energy of the spark. EDM is
mainly used to machine difficult to machine materials and high strength temperature resistant alloys. EDM can be
used to machine difficult geometries in small batches or even on job-shop basis. Work material to be machined by
EDM has to be electrically conductive. Spark erosion Machining is a process based on the disintegration of the
dielectric and current conduction between the Job and work piece by an electrical discharge occurring between them.
This process is also called as Electro Discharge Machining/Electro Erosion Process/Electro Spark Machining. In this
method the Job and the work piece (which act as electrodes) are separated by a certain gap filled with a dielectric
medium. A pre-set pulse is applied across the Job and work piece. Depending upon the micro irregularities of Tool
and Work piece surfaces, and presence of carbon and metal particles, the dielectric is broken down at several points
producing, the dielectric is broken down at several points producing ionized columns which allow a focused stream of
electrons to flow and produces compression shock waves and there is an intense increase in the local temperature. Due
to the combined effect of these two particles of metal are thrown out, very much similar to the boiling out of water. As
erosion progresses the gap changes and that gap is continuously maintained by the servomechanism.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Vishnu D Asal et al. conducted experiment [1] on Process parameters of EDM by using the ANOVA method. In this
experiment, two level of current, tool material, and spark gap are kept as the main variable. They use the material of
S.S.304 as the work piece and copper and brass as the tool electrode and also DEF-92 as dielectric fluid. The design of
experiment is used to design the EDM experiments. The various tool of DOE are used to analyze the final result of the
experiment with the help of graphs in research. The analysis is being done with the help of mini-tab 15 software.
ANOVS is performed to identify the statistical significance of parameters. They conclude that Material Removal Rate
process accounting for over 88.31 percent main effects of the total variability. The MRR is maximum achieved when
tool material is Copper, current is higher level (17 amp), and spark gap volts is set as low (5 volts). The TWR is
achieved maximum at the tool is Copper, current is higher level (17 amp), and spark gap voltage is low level (5 volts).
For surface roughness is minimum at the current is at low level (9 amp) and spark gap voltage at low level (5 volts). It
also noticed that tool material does not show any effect on surface roughness. Chandramouli S et al. conducted [2]
investigating EDM process parameters by using the Taguchi method and select the optimum result from that. The
effect of various process parameteron machining performance is investigated by the Taguchi method. They use the
input parameters as current, pulse time on, and pulse time off and the other side of Material removal rate (MRR), Tool
wear rate (TWR), and surface roughness (SR). The taguchi method is used to formulate the experimental layout,
Parameter optimization of Electro Discharge
Machine of AISI 304 Steel by using Taguchi
Method.
Kapil Banker
1
,

Ujjval Prajapati
2
, Jaimin Prajapati
3
,

Paras Modi
4

1
Assistant Professor,
2, 3, 4
UG Scholars
Mechanical Department, Shankersinh Vaghela Bapu Institute of Technology, Vasan, Gandhinagar, India.
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management
(IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

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ANOVA method is used to analysis the effect of input parameters on machining characteristics and find the optimum
process parameters. They conclude that for getting optimum MRR the set of process parameters are current is high
level (24 amp), pulse time on is low level (10 s) and pulse off time is high level (50 s). The TWR is decreasing with
increase in pulse time on and it increase with pulse time off increase. The optimum set of surface roughness is current
is low level (6 amp), pulse time on is low level (10 s), and pulse time off is high level (50 s). Raghuraman S et al.
Performed [3] on mild steel IS 2026 by using the taguchi method. In this paper the input process parameters such as
current, pulse time ON, pulse time OFF and the other side of the output parameters selected as Material removal rate,
tool wear rate and the surface roughness of the work piece material. They used the work piece material as mild steel
2026 and the electrode as copper. In this paper the main objective of to find the maximum MRR and select the best
process parameters. For this getting result they use the Taguchi DOE and use the L
9
orthogonal array and analysis on
them. The confirmation experiments were carried out to validate the optimal results. Thus, the machining parameters
for EDM were optimized for achieving the combined objectives of higher rate of material removal, lower wear rate on
tool, and lower surface roughness on the work material considered in this work. The obtained results show the taguchi
Gray relational Analysis is being technique to optimize the machining parameters for EDM process. M. atheswaran
et al. Performed [4] on Taguchi method of DOE. They use the numbers of method as orthogonal array, the signal-to-
noise (S/N) ratio, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). In this experiment they study the performance characteristics in
machining operations of titanium material using copper electrode as machine tool. In machining the process
parameters use as current, pulse time ON, pulse time OFF are studied in favor of getting optimum surface roughness
property. Through this study they not only get the optimum process parameters, but also the main machining
parameters that affect the machining performance in EDM process can be found. Vishal J Nadpara et al. performed
[5] on AISI D3 tool steel using graphite electrode of 10 mm diameter. The process parameters are taken on the basis
of Taguchi Method. The objective of the paper is to optimize the process parameters of machining in high. Medium
and low wear factors through duty cycle. In this paper they use the input process parameters as current, duty cycle and
pulse time ON and the opposite side the output process parameters as MRR and EWR. In this they also used as
taguchi method for getting the optimum result of selecting the best process parameters. MohdAmriLajis et al.
implemented [6] of taguchi method on the EDM which having Tungsten Carbide as work piece. They use as tool
electrode as tungsten Carbide and also they then applied taguchi method on the numbers of experiments. The taguchi
method is used to formulate the experimental layout, to analyze the effect of ech parameters on the machining process
and they predict the optimal choice for EDM parameters such as current, Ton, Voltage, and interval time. This all
parameters have significant influence on MRR, EWR, and SR. in this paper they also use the ANOVA method for
finding the optimal and residual value for the MRR. Nilesh M. Vohra optimizing [7] of various parameters which
are affected on different types of machining characteristics of EDM. The objective of this paper is to investigate the
optimum cutting parameters for a work piece of SS 304 & tool material use as copper, aluminum and brass
combination on fuzzy logic control based EDM. This experiment was accomplished by Taguchi Method. In this paper
they use process parameters are Current, spark gap voltage, Ton, and Toff. And at the other side of output they use
MRR, TWR, and SR. In the paper they conclude that the Gap voltage has highest effect on MRR.
3. METHODOLOGY
The selection of the material and work piece on the basis of reviewed research paper and the selected tool is copper
and work piece material is AISI 304L stainless steel. According to the taguchi method of experimental design the
experiment has been done with 9 experimental run. The input parameter is current, Ton and Toff and output
parameter is MRR. The researcher has selected the three level of input parameter. The parameters are current, Ton
and Toff and the level of parameters are (12, 12, 14), (5, 6, 7), (9, 8, 7) respectively.
Material removal rate (MRR) and Signal to noise ratio is calculated as following


For this experiment S/N ratio, is taken as the Larger is Better so the equation to find out signal to noise ratio is,
S/N =-10 *log ( (1/Y
2
)/n)

Fig. 1. Tool and work material
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Fig.2 Electrode setup
In addition to the above table, Mini-Tab software has been utilized for finding the signal to noise ratio and also means
for most affecting parameters. The all solution of signal to noise ratio and means value are shown below.
4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The finding of the research is obtained using minitab 17 software. The S-N ratio for each and every experiment is
taken as Larger is Better condition. Weigh of the workpiece material is taken before and after the machining on
EDM and with help of weigh and desity, material removal rate is obtained. The Effect of input parameters on the
output parameter is recorded in the table The nine experiments done on the electro discharge machine based on the
taguchi method and summarized in the following table.

In addition to the above table, Mini-Tab software has been utilized for finding the signal to noise ratio and also means
for most affecting parameters. The all solution of signal to noise ratio and means value are shown below.

Table.4.2 Response table for means of MRR Graph.1. Main effect plot for Means
From the above response table for means of MRR it has been claimed that the Ton parameter has the greatest effect on
the MRR and the same has been proved from the graph of main effect plot for means. It has also been observed from
the following table that the optimum parameter set for the MRR is Current-14, Ton-7, Toff-8.

International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management
(IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 Page 23


Table. 4.3 Final result table from Mini-Tab
The response table and graph of S-N ratio support the above result that Ton has the greatest effect on the MRR.

Table. 4.4 Response table for S/N ratio of MRR Graph 2.Main effect plot for SN ratio
From all the above detailed analysis of various process parameters of EDM process, it has been concluded that. The
Ton parameter has the greatest effect on the output parameter MRR. Optimum parameters of input factors as
follows:Current =14 A, T
on
=7 s, T
off
=8 s If the current is higher than the Material Removal Rate is grater with
respect to the Toff time. It has also been proved that copper having high material removal rate with respect to other
material like as aluminum, gun metal, brass, etc.
5. FUTURE SCOPE
Various theoretical models describing material removal mechanism have been proposed by the researchers from time
to time. Still a lot of in-depth study is required to better understanding and development of the EDM process. Future
scope which would express this research is some non-electrical parameters like electrode rotation and work piece
rotation while machining improve the flushing conditions and thus may improve MRR.Performance of water based
dielectric is yet to be investigated for machining materials like composites and carbides. Selection of different types of
electrode would also change in MRR, TWR, And Surface roughness. It may also be used the hybrid Electric Discharge
Machine such as Abrasive and Dielectric mixture EDM, Magnetic EDM, etc.
REFERENCE
[1] Vishnu D Asal et al. (2013) Optimization Of Process Parameters Of EDM by Using ANOVA Method,
International Journal Of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) Vol. 3, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 1119-1125,
ISSN: 2248-9622
[2] Chandramouli S et al. (2014) Optimization Of Electrical Discharge Machining Process Parameters Using
Taguchi method, International Journal Of Advanced Mechanical Engineering (IJAME) Vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 425-
434, ISSN: 2250-3234
[3] Raghuraman S et al. (2013) Optimization of EDM parameters using Taguchi Method and Grey relational
analysis for mild steel IS 2026, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and
Technology (IJIRSET) Vol.2, Issue 7, pp. 3095-3104, ISSN: 2319-8753
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering& Management
(IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2014 ISSN 2319 - 4847

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[4] M. Matheswaran et al. (2014) Study of EDM process Parameters of surface roughness in titanium using Taguchi
Method, International conference on Advances in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (ACME) pp. 210-213,
ISBN-978-93-81693-54-2
[5] Vishal J Nadpara et al. (2014) Optimization of EDM Process Parameters Using Taguchi Method with Graphite
Electrode, International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Vol. 7, Number 2, pp. 48-51,
ISSN: 2231-5381
[6] Mohd Amri Lajis et al. (2009) The Implementation of Taguchi Method on EDM process of Tungsten Carbide,
European Journal of Scientific Research (EJSR) Vol. 26, No.4, pp. 609-617, ISSN: 1450-216X
[7] Nilesh M. Vohra (2013) Optimization of Cutting Parameter in EDM using Taguchi Method, International
Journal of Scientific Research (IJSR) Vol. 2, Issue. 1, pp. 90-95, ISSN: 2277-8179
[8] S. R. Nipanikar (2012) Parameter Optimization of Electro Discharge Machining of AISI D3 Steel Material by
Using Taguchi Method, Journal of Engineering Research and Studies (JERS) Vol. 3, Issue. 3, pp. 7-10, ISSN:
0976-7916
[9] D. C. Chen et al. (2013) Application of Taguchi Design Method to Optimize the Electric Discharge Machining,
Journal of Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering (JAMME) Vol. 57, Issue. 2, pp. 76-82
[10] A. Aravindan et al. (2013) Optimization of Machining Parameters in EDM process by using Robust Design,
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ISSN: 2249-9954