Exploring tool geometry influence on EDD of Waspaloy

ABSTRACT

Electric discharge drilling (EDD) is a competent method for drilling hard-to-cut materials despite its drawbacks, including minimum material removal rate (MRR), excess tool wear rate (TWR), high surface roughness (R_a), and power consumption (PC). To address these issues, EDD’s performance was explored by varying factors like tool electrode geometry (TEG), current (I), pulse-on-time (T_ON), and tool electrode speed (TES) to investigate the effect on MRR, TWR, R_a, and PC. Cu-6 produced the highest MRR of 36.26 mm³/min, surpassing Cu-7, Cu-8, and Cu-solid by 28.309%, 44.866%, and 51.843% respectively. Cu-solid revealed the lowest TWR of 4.397%, significantly lower than Cu-6, Cu-7, and Cu-8. R_a followed the trend: Cu-solid < Cu-8 < Cu-7 < Cu-6. Cu-solid consumed more power than hollow electrodes. Microscopic analysis attributed rough surfaces to high currents. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis exhibits material migration from a workpiece and tool electrode on the machined surface. .

KEYWORDS:

• Electric
• discharge
• drilling
• roughness
• Waspaloy
• taguchi

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Department of Mechanical-Mechatronics Engineering, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, for providing facilities and support to conduct this research work. The authors thank the Materials Research Centre, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, for access to characterization facility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pravin Pandit Harane

Pravin Pandit Harane is a Research Scholar in the Department of Mechanical-Mechatronics Engineering at The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur (India). He is currently working on a research titled “Characterization and quality improvement of electrical discharge drilling of Waspaloy.” His research interests involve advanced machining processes, electric discharge machining (EDM), and hybrid machining processes. Before getting into Ph. D., he worked as an Assistant Professor at DYPCET, Kolhapur. He has completed his Master of Engineering in Product Design and Development from DKTE’s Textile Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Deepak Rajendra Unune

Dr. Deepak Rajendra Unune is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical-Mechatronics Engineering at The LNM Institute of Technology, Jaipur (India). Previously, he was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship and invited for two years (2019-2021) of research work at the University of Sheffield. He was awarded a Ph.D. by the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India 2016. He has 9+ years of teaching and research experience and more than 60+ research publications in peer-reviewed Journals and Conferences. His research interests are micro-machining processes, electro-discharge machining (EDM), micro-EDM, hybrid machining processes, CNC machining, and submerged arc welding.