EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF FERROUS ALLOY USING WIRE-CUT EDM PROCESS

Abstract

Wire-Cut Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) is more appropriate techniques for machining difficult–to-machine materials. Electrically conductive materials are cut by Wire-cut EDM that uses a wire as electrode in an electro-thermal mechanism. Since there is no direct contact between wire electrode and the work pieces in Wire-cut EDM methodology, the mechanical stress and vibration problems in machining are eliminated. The focus of this investigation is on machining of AISI H-13 Die steel material with Wire-cut EDM and to study the effect of coated and uncoated wires electrodes on machining performance and wire breakage phenomenon. In this investigation, study of effect of process parameters including Pulse-on Time, Pulse-off Time, Wire Feed-rate and Wire Tension on process performance parameters such as cutting Speed, metal removal rate and surface integrity are investigated. All experiments were conducted using FANUC ROBOCUT Alpha 1-iE CNC Wire-Cut EDM. A Taguchi L9 Design of Experiment (DOE) is applied to determine the effect of significant parameters on Wire-cut EDM performance. To analyze the date, analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been use to find the optimal levels for each process parameter. Several experiments are done in order to find the effect of machining parameters and their setting on wire breakage.