Accepted Manuscript

Title: Surface Integrity Evolution and Machining Efficiency

Analysis of W-EDM of Nickel-based Alloy

Author: L. Li X.T. Wei Z.Y. Li

PII: S0169-4332(14)01206-9
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.05.165
Reference: APSUSC 27984

To appear in: APSUSC

Received date: 30-4-2014

Revised date: 21-5-2014
Accepted date: 23-5-2014

Please cite this article as: L. Li, X.T. Wei, Z.Y. Li, Surface Integrity Evolution and
Machining Efficiency Analysis of W-EDM of Nickel-based Alloy, Applied Surface
Science (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.05.165

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 Surface Integrity Evolution and Machining Efficiency Analysis of W-
EDM of Nickel-based Alloy
L. Li*, X.T. Wei, Z.Y. Li

School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China

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Abstract

Nickel-based alloys have wide applications in many industries due to their outstanding

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properties. However, it is very difficult to machine using cutting and grinding methods because
of their low thermal conductivity, strong strain hardening, and high strength at elevated

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temperatures. Electrical discharge machining is an alternative competitive process to machine
Nickel-based alloys by electrical erosion. This study focuses on the evolution process of surface

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integrity and machining efficiency of W-EDM in machining IN718 by one rough cut (RC) mode
followed by three trim cut (TC) modes. Material removal efficiency, surface roughness, surface
topography, surface alloying, and microhardness have been characterized. Results show that high
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material removal efficiency can be achieved in W-EDM. Six-sigma distribution of Ra in RC
mode is different from that of TC modes. The high toughness of IN 718 would be the major
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contributing factor to the absence of microcracks in the TC modes. Microcracks just exist in
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the white layer. Thick white layers (6-8μm) with microcracks in RC mode and very thin white
layers (0-2μm) free of those defects in TC2 mode can be observed, while white layer is nearly
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invisible in TC3 mode. The microhardness of white layer in TC mode is higher than that in MC
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mode.

Keywords: Surface Integrity; IN 718; Electrical discharge machining

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Corresponding author, Tel.:+86 533-2788780; Fax: +86 533-2786910.

E-mail address: sdutlili@163.com
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1. Introduction

Nickel-based alloys are widely used in aerospace, medical, nuclear, and chemical industries
because of their excellent mechanical properties including excellent resistance to thermal fatigue,

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corrosion and creep at elevated temperatures [1, 2]. Among nickel-based alloys, IN718 exhibits

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good corrosion resistance, and is the most commonly used superalloy [3, 4]. However, IN718 has

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very poor machinability using conventional mechanical cutting methods [5, 6]. Guo [7] and
Rahman [5] showed that short tool life, poor surface integrity, and low machining efficiency

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were the basic problems that limited the applications of nickel-based alloys. Furthermore, the
requirement of sustainable development has led to the demand for increasing energy efficiency in
aerospace and power industries [8]. Meeting such demands is very challenging in the machining
of nickel-based alloys.

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Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has been developed as an alternative for machining
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nickel-based alloys. EDM is considered a competitive machining technology due to its contact-
free removal mechanisms in which no deformation occurs even for thin component [9, 10]. The
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resulting low process forces of EDM are capable of creating burr-free micro structures with very
high aspect ratios. Therefore, EDM is capable of efficiently fabricating various components
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made of materials with high strength, hardness and toughness [11]. Wire-EDM (W-EDM) is
becoming more popular in industry because it can be fully automated, and complex geometrical
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shapes can be machined in one setup [12].

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Since EDM is a thermal process, the high temperatures (10,000°C) have a significant impact
on the process-induced surface characteristics. A recent study claims wire-EDM was more
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detrimental to surface integrity compared to hard turning and grinding [13]. However, this is not
necessarily true since the degree of thermal damage depends not only on process conditions but
also on EDM generators. Thermal damage in the main cut can be removed or minimized by
subsequent multiple trim cuts at reduced discharge energies [Klink et al] [14]. Surface integrity
of EDM has been studied. Kruth [15] showed the microhardness of the machined surface was
much higher than that of the bulk material. Ekmekci [16] also studied the EDMed mold steel and
showed that the several microcracks were observed in the white layer which was resulted from
the high tensile residual stress formed on the surface. Liew [17] studied the material migration

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phenomenon between silicon carbon workpiece and tungsten electrode. The bulk of literature on
EDM-induced surface integrity was limited to investigating tool steels and the works were
mostly limited to single parameter effect on microstructure. Researchers [18, 19] investigated
the relationship between parameters and white layer formation. Little research has been
conducted regarding surface integrity evolution and machining efficiency for nickel-based alloys

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such as IN718.

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With limited literature on surface integrity evolution and machining efficiency in EDM of

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nickel-based alloys, the objectives of this work were to comprehensively investigate the
machining efficiency and evolution of surface integrity in terms of surface roughness, surface

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topography, microstructure, elemental diffusion as well as microhardness.

2. W-EDM Experimental Procedure

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The composition of IN 718 is listed in Table 1. W-EDM experiments were performed using a
Charmilles Robofil 2020. The EDM cuts were conducted in de-ionized water using a 250 μm
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diameter brass wire electrode. The EDM conditions are given in Table 2. The roughness cut (RC)
was followed by three trim cuts (TC). In the RC, the highest discharge energy and flushing
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pressure (550 MPa) of dielectric fluid were applied. The purpose of TC1 was to improve the
dimensional accuracy. As for the TC2 and TC3, surface finish was further reduced via opposite
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electrical polarization. The positive polarization of the wire electrode was used for the TC3. The
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operation parameters used in this study were recommended from the built-in database and the
discharge energy during the W-EDM process gradually decreases from RC mode to TC3 mode.
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3 Results and Analysis

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3.1 Material removal efficiency

Material removal efficiency (MRE) is measured by the machined area per unit time
(mm2/min) and can be calculated as follows:
s
MRE = (1)
t
Where s is the machined area, and t is the machining time. In order to compare the removal
efficiency, W-EDM on carbon steel JB/T 6397 was used as a benchmark material at same
machining conditions. Table 3 shows the calculated results. For IN 718, the removal efficiency

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in rough cut was 26.12 mm2/min and the TC3 was11.36 mm2/min. For the four cuts, the removal
efficiency of IN 718 was higher than that of the steel JB/T 6397. The low thermal conductivity of
Inconel alloy meant less heat conducted into the workpiece, which lead to more focused
discharge energy to erode the work material.

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3.2 Surface roughness (Ra)

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Ra is the most common parameter to qualify the surface roughness. Roughness is usually

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measured by average Ra value of three or six measurements at different position. Though it is a
common and useful method to use an average Ra, it can not provide the spectrum of surface

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roughness over a broad range of the machining conditions. A distribution of Ra over the broad
EDM conditions is highly needed to show the process capability. In this study, a statistical
distribution is suggested to demonstrate the process capability in terms of surface roughness over

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a broad of machining conditions. A large number of random variables in certain condition will be
approximately normally distributed according to the central limit theorem of probability theory.
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Thus, a large set of Ra value of the W-EDMed surfaces follow the distribution in Eq. 2
(x−μ )2
1
f(x) =
2
e 2σ (2)
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σ 2π
Where f(x) is the probability density, μ is the mean value of the measured value, and δ is the
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standard deviation. The μ and δ can be calculated by Eqs. 3 and 4.

1 n
μ = ∑ xi (3)
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n i =1
1 n
∑ ( xi − μ ) 2
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σ= (4)
n i=1
where xi is the Ra data of each measurement, and n is the total measurement number. After
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calculation of the mean value and deviation based on Ra data, the Ra distributions of RC and TC
surfaces are plotted in Fig.1. It can be seen that the average Ra value of the RC surface
(2.01μm) was significantly reduced by TC1 (1.12μm) and TC2 (0.83μm). In the finish trim cut
TC3, the average Ra was decreased to 0.43μm. High discharge energy was used in RC, more re-
solidified molten material was deposited on the surface resulting in a “coral reef” microstructure
with high surface roughness. For the subsequent TC surfaces, the gradually decreased energy
produces much less “coral reef” microstructure and smaller roughness.
The standard deviation (0.28μm) of the RC surface was dramatically reduced to 0.06μm in

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TC2 and 0.04μm in TC3. It indicates that surface roughness for RC surface had a larger
randomness than those of TC surfaces, which was attributed to the irregular “coral reef”
microstructure resulted from relative high discharge energy.

3.3 Surface topography

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The EDMed samples were prepared with ultrasonic cleaning for 5 minutes followed by air

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drying, and then surface topography was examined using the scanning electron microscope

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(SEM, D8 Advance, Bruker, Germany).
Fig. 2(a) shows “coral reef” microstructure formed by re-solidified materials with random

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irregular or spherical debris. The debris was re-solidified from the splashed molten material or
the vaporized material by rapid dielectric quenching. The formation mechanism is similar to

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production of powders via atomization of molten metal in water. As shown in Table 2, the
discharge energy of the RC is the highest. Most of the molten material was splashed by the high
bubble pressure produced in the discharge channel. Only a portion of splashed material was
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flushed away by the dielectric fluid, when the rest was re-solidified on the surface, “coral reef”
microstructure with debris was formed. The subsequent TC1 and TC2 modes significantly
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reduced the number of debris. In addition, the surfaces are composed of many overlapped
craters. The topography characteristics are very different from the surface by RC in Fig. 2(a). In
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the subsequence TC at relative low discharge energy, most of the molten material stayed on the
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surface instead of being splashed. Thus, discharge craters and less debris can be observed on the
surfaces. Nevertheless, surface morphology with small nodules was observed in Fig. 2(d). The
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difference between TC2 and TC3 modes was the wire electrode in difference electrical
polarization, the negative potential of wire electrode for TC2 and positive for TC3 mode. Unlike
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the EDMed surface of steels from Kiyak and Çakir [20], microcracks from W-EDM on IN718
surfaces were not observed in three RC modes. According to Newton et al [18], thermal
conductivity has the most significant influence on microcrack formation since material with high
thermal conductivity has the ability to quickly conduct heat away from the heating region, thus
reducing the tendency of forming cracks. On the contrary, material with low thermal
conductivity tends to form microcracks on EDM surfaces. However, microcracks were not
formed in the three RC modes. The high toughness of IN718 was the major contributing factor to
the absence of microcracks.

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3.4 Subsurface microstructure

The samples were cross-sectioned, polished, cleaned, and dried for microstructure observation
in the subsurface. The etchant used consists of 100ml HCl, 100ml HNO3 and 5g CuCl2.
The discontinuous and non-uniform porous white layer in the RC (6-10μm) can be reduced in

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the subsequence TC1 (3-6μm), which was resulted from the decrease of discharge energy as
shown in Fig. 3. White layer was much more continuous and the thickness was further reduced

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to 2-3μm in TC2. The white layer was nearly invisible in TC3. The result indicated that thermal
damage caused by electrical discharge can be minimized or removed by multiple trim cuts. It is

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evident that W-EDM of IN718 was not more detrimental to surface integrity compared to hard
turning and grinding. Microvoids were visible in the RC. During discharge, even at large

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discharge energy condition, the presence of large volume of gases in the channel will lead to a
high super saturation of gases in the molten pool. Most of the gas bubbles were expelled with the
splash of molten material, while the remaining gas bubbles were trapped as microvoids within
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the white layer.
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3.5 Elemental analysis
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Complex chemical reactions between the work material, wire material, and the dielectric are
the basic characteristics of an EDM process. EDS analysis was used to measure the element
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composition of white layers on the top surface. Fig. 4 compares the EDS patterns of samples in
each cut. Fig. 5 shows the Cu and O contents on the W-EDMed surfaces formed by RC and TC
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modes. The presence of copper (Cu) was detected on the RC and TC1. Cu content was as high as
9.2% in RC, and decreased less than 5% in the subsequent TC1 mode. This is due to the
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diffusion of material from the brass wire to the workpiece material. The amount of Cu in the TC2
mode was negligible. Although the wire electrode was partly melted or vaporized, the cooling
fluid flushed away the electrode material so that a negligible amount was deposited on the
machined surface. The low percentage of oxygen was due to the low discharge energy resulting
in less water decomposed in the discharge gap and its content decreased with reduced discharge
energy. Surface alloying can be minimized by reducing discharge energy [21].

3.6 Microhardness

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 Fig.6 shows the microhardness profile in the subsurface of the samples formed by RC and
three TC. Compared to the bulk material, the microhardness of the white layer decreased at each
case. In comparison, the hardness of white layer of carbon steels is higher than that of the bulk
due to the rich C content. However, the very low C content of IN718 would not make the white
layer harder after quenching in dielectric fluid. The microhardness of the heat affected zone also

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had lower microhardness at each case. The reason is that the thermal degradation from multiple

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thermal loading had softening effect in the discharging process. In addition, the thermal affected

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zone is significantly decreased from RC mode to TC3 mode. The high discharge energy in RC
causes severe thermal damage to the machined surface and leads to a thick thermal affected zone.

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However, thermal affected zone can be reduced by subsequent TC modes at reduced discharge
energy.

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4. Conclusions

This study focused on the machining efficiency and the surface integrity evolution of
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IN718 by W-EDM process. The key results are summarized as follows:
• The high material removal efficiency of IN 718 in W-EDM is mainly due to the lower
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thermal conductivity of the superalloy compared to steels.

• Six-sigma distribution of Ra in RC mode is different from that of TC modes.
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• The “coral reef” surface in RC is evolved into isotropic TC surface with random crater.
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• Roughness distribution shows that surface formed in RC has much higher average and
random than that formed in TC.
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• The discontinuous porous white layer in RC can be reduced to uniform and solid white
layer in TC2 mode. White layer is nearly invisible in finish trim cut TC3. Microvoids
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produced by trapped gas bubbles exist in RC.

• Microcracks did not occur on the surface in three RC modes due to the high toughness of
the superalloy.
• The significant softening occurred in heat affected zone in RC due to thermal degradation
can be minimized by TC with low discharge energy.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (#51105235).

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References

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[13] K.E. Pappacena, M.T. Johnson, S. Xie, K.T. Faber, Processing of wood-derived copper-
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Surf. Sci. 253 (2007) 9234-9240.
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phenomena in micro-EDM of reaction-bonded silicon carbide, Appl. Surf. Sci. 276 (2013)
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Figure and table captions

Table 1 Chemical compositions of IN718.

Table 2 W-EDM parameters used for multi-cutting passes
Table 3 Material removal efficiency of IN 718 and carbon steel JB/T 6397
Fig. 1 Surface roughness distribution from RC to TC in W-EDM cuts.
Fig. 2 Surface topography of sequential W-EDM cuts on IN 718.

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Fig. 3 Microstructure of IN718 by W-EDM.
Fig. 4 EDS of W-EDM surfaces on IN 718 after each cut.
Fig. 5 Cu and O contents analysis in RC and TC modes.
Fig. 6 Microhardness profile of the W-EDMed subsurface

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 Table1 Chemical compositions of IN718

Element C Al Ti Cr Fe Ni Nb Si Mo
Content (%) 1.06 0.44 0.86 14.91 16.13 39.84 4.24 0.06 2.67

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 Table2 W-EDM parameters used for multi-cutting passes

Voltage Current Pulse-on Pulse-off WS WB Flushing

EDM pass
(V) (A) (µs) (µs) (m/min) (daN) (MPa)
RC -80 16 0.6 15 10 1.0 550
TC1 -200 12 0.2 3.8 8 1.6 80
TC2 -80 12 0.4 3.0 8 1.6 80
TC3 +80 8 0.2 3.8 8 1.4 80

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*WS: feeding speed of the wire electrode; WB: wire tension.

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Table 3 Material removal efficiency of IN 718 and carbon steel JB/T 6397

MRE of IN 718 MRE of carbon steel

EDM pass
(mm2/min) JB/T 6397(mm2/min)
RC 26.12 22.49
TC1 18.17 15.24
TC2 12.10 10.57
TC3 11.36 7.38

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Highlight

Nickel-based alloys are very difficult to machine using cutting and grinding methods
because of their low thermal conductivity, strong strain hardening, and high strength at
elevated temperatures.
Electrical discharge machining is an alternative competitive process to machine

t
Nickel-based alloys by electrical erosion. This study focuses on the machining efficiency

ip
and evolution process of surface integrity of W-EDM in machining IN718 by one rough
cut (RC) mode followed by three trim cut (TC) modes.
The key results are summarized as follows:

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High material removal efficiency can be achieved in W-EDM because of its low
thermal conductivity. The disadvantage of low thermal conductivity in cutting and
grinding could become the advantage in W-EDM process.

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Six-sigma distribution of Ra in RC mode is different from that of TC modes.
The high toughness of IN 718 would be the major contributing factor to the absence
of microcracks. While recast layer is nearly invisible in trim cut mode. The result

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indicated that thermal damage caused by electrical discharge can be minimized or
removed by multiple trim cuts. It is evident that W-EDM of IN718 was not more
detrimental to surface integrity compared to hard turning and grinding.
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d
p te
ce
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Figure 1

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

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Figure 4

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Figure 5

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Figure 6

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