INTRODUCTION

1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO WHAT IS EDM

Electric discharge machining also known as EDM is a not normal machining method and
is used in heavy scope where the manufacturing of metal working factories, die making, jigs and
fixtures and intrinsic CNC Machining parts need to be manufactured. It was developed 60 years
back that is around 1940 and the methods have grown high during the late 1980 and 1990
decades.
The EDM cutting is used for materials that are hard and has good conductivity of
electricity. Very complex shapes and structures are cut using EDM. EDM gives us high surface
finish values. The materials that are sliced and machined in the EDM procedure is Tungsten
Carbide, Silicon, HSS Steel, Titanium alloys and nickel based metals.
EDM processes are shown in Figure 1.1

EDM

Sinking by EDM Cutting EDM EDM Grinding

EDM Die External Form

Drilling Rotary slice Wire grinding
sinking EDM
by EDM EDM Cutting in EDM
Grinding

EDM with Internal

ribbon EDM -
Grinding
Figure 1.1: EDM Process

1.2 EDM Types

 Electric discharge machining can be done in all the basic operations and multiple ways.
Milling operations, grinding, gear hobbing and processes like Die sinking are also used in the
EDM technology. This project has focused on the Wire EDM.
a) EDM used in DIE Sinking
b) EDM in wire cutting
c) EDM in Milling Operation
d) WEDG (Wire-Electric-Discharge-Grinding)
1.2.1 EDM used in Die Sinking
In this EDM Process the tool has the exact shape of the work piece that is to be
completed and is sunk where the rough material is present and then machined. The Die sinking
EDM process gives us a very high accuracy and exactness to values than any other EDM
methods
1.2.2 EDM in Wire Cutting
In wire EDM, the tool is actually wire with a very low diameter and the work piece is
hard metal which has the capability of electric conductivity and hardness. In this process the thin
wire cuts the material based on the requirements and thereby giving us a fine surface finish. The
actual process happening here is the discharge machining is happening between tool and work
piece
1.2.3 EDM in milling operation
In this operation actually the electrode that is used is a cylinder that keeps rotating on to
the work piece and thereby cutting the material. The main use is to machine big holes with
intense shapes and contours.

1.2.4 WEDG (Wire-Electric-Discharge-Grinding)

In this methodology the work piece and the tool machines on the discharge happening on
both the polar ends of the materials. The tool itself erodes away so as to obtain the work that is
planned. This machining is basically used in manufacturing small holes etc.

1.3 Electric Discharge Machining by Wire (WEDM)

 Wire EDM came into the picture actually 60 years ago and has drastically developed
during the last three decades. After Wire EDM was introduced, manufacturing parts of very
complex and intrinsic shapes became actually very easy. The actual working in Wire EDM is
that a series of sparks are produced by the work piece and the tool and thereby an electric
discharge happening a cutting the material. The tool electrode that is used in the Wire EDM is
copper, brass, molybdenum or tungsten. The wire should also possess a good thermal and
electric conductivity so as to erode the material in the discharge.
The actual process happening is the erosion of the work piece by the tool and in order to
reduce the heat generated and also not to affect the machining parameters distilled water is
continuously poured and thereby not allowing any heat stresses or deformations while cutting the
work piece.
In the later stages CNC was brought into the WIRE EDM Environment and thereby
reducing the human labor. The machining parameters was high achieved as the codes in CNC
ran the whole program and also helping in generating very high sharp shapes and structures
accurately. The wires uses are basically vary from 0.16 to 0.32mm of dia and it varies from work
to work and from scenario. To obtain even higher surface finish factors smaller dia wires are
used.

Figure 1.2: WEDM Cutting Process

1.3.1 Advantages of Wire EDM Process

i. Lower Diameter surface finish can be easily achieved.
ii. Complex shapes and smaller feeble shapes can be easily cut without any damage or
breakage
 iii. Electrode doesn’t need any safety holds or precautions
iv. The machining operation doesn’t require any human labor
v. The cost of the DIE is so cheap in the wire EDM
vi. Any hard materials can be easily cut using the wire EDM
vii. There is no difficulty in cutting tough and hard shapes
viii. Excellent surface finish is obtained
1.3.2 Disadvantages of Wire EDM Process
i. Material is generally removed very slowly
ii. Lot of time is consumed in Wire EDM
iii. Repetitions are not so easy because of the tool wear
iv. Large amount of power is consumed to cut the material.
v. Tool keeps breaking when the mechanical properties differs in the change of
parameters
vi. Tool wear is high and needs to be changed regularly
vii. Non electric materials cannot be cut with EDM c
viii. Initial investment cost is so high
ix. Large materials cannot be cut in Wire EDM

1.3.3 Application of Wire EDM Process

1. To manufacture die and punch in same cut

2. Used to manufacture coins
3. Very complex shapes can be easily cut with high dimension accuracy.
4. To make small models and prototypes
5. Highly used in the aerospace industry
1.4 WIRE ELECTRODE

Pure copper or brass is expansively cast off as an electrode material. This one is used
when fitting finishes are mandatory in the work piece. The situation exhibits a very small wear
ratio. A key difficult issue with copper is its deprived machinability Wires used in this machine
as the cutting tool.
 The wire is usually made of brass, molybdenum, copper, or tungsten; zinc or brass coated
and multi-coated wires are also used..

In our experiment we are using brass wires of 0.25mm. The work piece is machined with
a brand new brass wire and a reused brass wire of 0.25mm and the machining factors are
analyzed.

1.5 DIELECTRIC LIQUID USED

The liquid that seals the work piece and the material is the dielectric liquid used as the
coolant in the Wire EDM process. Distilled water is used in the Makino Wire EDM Machine.

The main purpose of the dielectric fluid area:

i. It is used to remove the eroded material from the work piece so as to reduce the unwanted
scratched and wear on tool and work piece
ii. Good insulation is done between work piece and tool
iii. The main objective is to cool the tool and the work piece while it machines
iv. Most commonly used coolants are oil and distilled water, they can be easily clean and it
has good viscosity which doesn’t influence surface roughness

1.6 EQUIPMENT USED FOR WIRE EDM

The Machinery that is utilized for machining is Wire-EDM Machine (MAKINO/MGW-JL) is as
revealed in Figure 1.3 and the provisions are accessible in Table 1.1. It is a Japanese make and is
controlled by the NC codes for machining. Brass and copper wires are used in this machinery

Figure 1.3: Wire-EDM Machine (MAKINO/MGW-JL)

Table 1.1: Specification for Wire cut EDM

Machine’s Parametrers MAKINO/MGW-JL

Work Piece Max size 640 x 800 mm
Total height 600 mm
Weight of max work piece 420 kg
Main axis X,Y 480, 600 mm
Auxiliary table traverse (u,v) 25, 25 mm
Total Tool size 1600*1350*1600
Cutting angle of tapered side ± 3°/100 mm
Weight of the tool and the Machine 100 kg
Running Speed Dry 25 mm/min
(Ra) – Surface Finish Values 1-1.5µm
Wire diameter 0.2 to 0.25 mm (Brass)
0.12 to 0.25 mm(Molybdenum)

Figure 1.4: Wire-EDM Machine (MAKINO/MGW-JL) Front View

Machine Make
Makino/MGW-JL

Work Piece

Titanium Rod - 25mm x 130mm..

Tool Material

Wire electrode for WEDM process in present investigation: NewBrass Wire and Reused Brass
Wire

Table 1.2 Machining Parameters MAKINO/MGW

SETTING RANGE
MACHINING CONDITION ITEM UNIT
MIN MAX
Mode
ON T ON TIME µs 0 5
OFF T OFF TIME µs 1 64
CURREN
T PEAK CURRENT A 1 128
VOLTAGE OPEN VOLTAGE V 0 90
  MODE 0 1   10 110
SERVO SERVO TABLE NO.
NO. SELECTION   0 11
SERVO
NO. SERVO ADJUSTER % 0 100
SPEED MAXIMUN SPEED mm/min 0.01 50
WIRE
FEED WIRE FEED RATE mm/min 0 36
TENSION WIRE TENSION N 0 15
CONDUCTIVITY OF
COND. DIELECTRIC FLUID µs/cm 0 200

1.7 WHY THIS PROJECT

The main idea of this project is actually to do a slicing operation of 3mm thickness on a 130mm
long titanium rod which has a diameter of 25mm with a new brass wire and a re-used brass wire
both of 0.25mm dia. The machining parameters would be the same for both the wires and after
the machining is completed an analysis will be done to find out the best parameters and also
determine the better wire to cut so as to obtain the most optimized values

The course of slicing titanium by old-fashioned machining procedures requires around

difficulties such as great cutting temperature and extraordinary tool wear ratio. Then, inimitable
machining progresses (Wire Electrical Discharge machining)are introduced for slicing titanium.

1.8 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The objectives of the project are:

i. To identify the important factors and co-variants that is responsible for tool wear
and material removal rate.
ii. Calculation of surface roughness and material removal rate so as to determine the
best range of values
iii. Obtaining lower surface roughness values and the optimal material removal rate
are to be considered while cutting.
iv. The parameters like Pulse On, Pulse OFF, wire tension and Current on the metal
removal rate and surface roughness are determined
v. The fundamental characteristics of WEDM of Titanium rod to be experimentally
investigated by a New Brass Wire and Used Brass wire (0.25mm).

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
In Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM), a wire is continuously fed in to the
work piece which is either immersed in a dielectric liquid or a flush of dielectric liquid passed on it

This fluid helps acts as a coolant and also a flush to remove the cut material while
discharging and thereby not affecting the surface roughness and the material’s characteristics.
 There is no need of an extra surface finishing or polish for a material that has been cut by
WEMDM.

The various steps that are involved in the methodology of the cutting the work piece are
mentioned below:-

 Material Selection
 Wire to be selected
 Finding the best parameters
 Conducting the experiments
 calculating the performance parameters influencing the cut
 Analysing the experiment data and comparing the results with the most considerate factors.

3.1 MATERIAL SELECTION

Titanium metal has high corrosion resistance, a high strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue
resistance, which is always at a very high temperatures.

A conversion metal with a white-silvery metallic look which has a very high resistivity
towards corrosion

A strong metal but also light in density when compared to the other metals, it has its
limitations when the material is cut at high temperatures

High conductivity rate is there in titanium since which it is used in industries such as,
automobile, aerospace, chemical field, electronic, gas Bio-Medical applications and food industry.

In Medical field titanium is widely used, it is used in hip replacements, surgeries performed
on the knee and also in manufacturing the surgical instruments.

In this project Titanium Grade 5 is used since it is the most commercially available of all
titanium alloys. It offers an excellent combination of high strength and toughness. Titanium has
good welding and fabrication characteristics.

3.2 WIRE SELECTION

 New Brass wire

 Brass wires are the mixture of Copper and Zinc, alloyed within the range of 63%-65%
copper and 35%-37% zinc.

The presence of zinc helps in increasing the Machining speed the in the Wire-EDM owing
to a stable discharge during machining. The zinc present in the new wire gives high tensile
strength and the melting point is slow.

In the new brass wire, the addition of zinc actually provides an improved flushability.

 Reused Brass wire

In reused brass wire the zinc vaporizes there by reducing the tensile strength and also
decreasing the machining speed.

The reused brass wire is more brittle and thereby causing breakage at higher parameters.

The main idea of using the new and reused brass wire is to analyse the machining
parameters which will actually influence the Ra and MRR rate. Since the zinc coating on the new
wire is high, the discharge machining is high and thereby obtaining us better surface finish and
accuracy. But in the case of the reused wire at extreme parameters there is a tendency of the wire
to break because of its brittleness and hardness and also the coated zinc on the reused wire was
utilized during the initial usage in the wire cutting.

3.3 DESIGN OF THE EXPERIMENTS USING THE TAGUCHI METHOD

The number of experiments to be conducted is determined by using the Taguchi
methodology. It is a very powerful and a smart design to get the best machining parameters with
least number of experiments conducted. The manufacturing time and cycle time costs are reduced.
Taguchi helps us to find the optimal and the best values of the objectives in the production
environment. The design used by the Taguchi is the orthogonal array to validate the characteristics
with the least number of parameters. From the design parameters, the best condition is obtained
A Japanese scientist named GenichiTaguchi , urbanized a system using the orthogonal arrays of
experiments. It is generally applied in various fields of engineering technology to obtain the best
parameters. An array is a set of experiments with its optimum range of permutations and
combinations.
 In the Taguchi s method basically a three stage process is done and the process is used to
define tolerances for applicable parameters in the product. The designs are as follows

 Parameter Design
 System Design
 Tolerance Design

Parameter Design: Taguchi determines the performance measure which is the s/n ratio. Its
main aim is to discover the best setting of the product so that the performance parameters are
reduced.

System Design: In this design basically a model is made by the engineering principles and
is made based on the functional requirement of the design.

Tolerance Design: After the system design and the parameter design, the tolerance design
is the last level where permissible values are always stays around the actual or targeted values in
the control parameters

The procedures followed in the Taguchi Methods are stated below:

 Defining the process objective and the target value

 Designing the parameters the affects the performance parameters and the number of
varying levels should be determined.
 Creating the orthogonal array for the design and determine the conditions for each and
every experiment that is conducted
 Conducting the experiments indicated in the complete array.
 Completing the data analysis to obtained the best parameters.

3.3.1 SELECTION OF ARRAY

Table 3.1: Selection of L9 orthogonal array
 The outcome of various designs lying on the performance characteristics in set of
experiments to determine the level of variables to test. The variable levels that are used to test are
requires an in detail perceptive of the process, which included the minimal and maximum values
of the parameters. If the disparity amid the minimum and the maximum value of a parameter is
large, then in that case more values can be calculated. If the range is small then fewer values are
tested and it can be closed together. The orthogonal array is selected based on the parameters

3.4 PROCESS PARAMETERS AND DESIGN

On T. (On Time)

The ON .T. sets the discharge time, which can be set to 1 to 64. Larger value increases
removal rate. As a result, the machining speed increases but the surface roughness is rough and
the cutting width becomes large. Excessive large value could break the wire more easily. It is
therefore recommended that current be large and ON .T. be small.

OFF T. (OFF Time)

The OFF T. sets recess time, which can be set to 1 to 128. Smaller value increases
repetition discharge time, resulting in increased machining speed. Excessive small value could
break the wire easily due to centralized discharge or unstable machining. The OFF T. does not
affect the cutting speed width and surface roughness
CURR. (Peak Current)

The current sets the machining current, which can be set to 1 to 39. Larger value
increases removal rate same as in ON T. As a result, the machining speed increases but the
surface roughness is rough and the cutting width becomes large. Excessive large value could
break the wire easily. It is therefore recommended that the CURR. Is large and ON T. be small.

VOLT. (Open Voltage)

The Volt sets the voltage to be applied. The setting range varies depending on the mode.
Larger value stabilizes machining, increases the machining speed and makes the cutting width
larger. Excessive larger value could however break the wire.

W. FEED (Wire Feed Rate)

This sets the wire feed rate. Usually it is set according to the machining condition table. It
can be set from 1 to 36mm/min. Higher value of feed rate with the higher pulse power.

TENS. (Wire Tension)

The tension of the wire is set here. Usually it is set according the machining condition
table. It can be set from 1 to 15N. The wire is set in tension so as to hold the wires between the
guides.

Table 3.2: Range of parameters

Parameters Range of Parameters

Peak current 12-37A

T-ON Discharge Time 01-06µs

T-OFF Recess Time 30-90µs

Wire tension 1-4-8

Table 3.3: Level of experimental parameters

 Factors Level-1 Level-2 Level-3

I 12 24 37

T on 1 3 6

T off 30 60 90

Tension 1 4 8

3.5 EXPERIMENTAL WORK

The Makino wire cut EDM is the machine used to do the experiments. The grade 5 Titanium has
been used as the work piece in the experiments. The shape of the work piece is 25mm *130mm
long rod. The wires that are used for cutting is an old brass wire and a new brass wire of 0.25mm
diameter. Distilled water is used as the dielectric for the experiments. Table 3.4. Below shows us
the number of experiments to be done

Table 3.4: List of experiments to be conducted

Experiment No. Current(A) T-ON T-OFF Tension

1 12 1 30 1

2 12 3 60 4

3 12 6 90 8

4 24 1 60 8

5 24 3 90 1
6 24 6 30 4
7 37 1 90 4
8 37 3 30 8
9 37 6 60 1

Constant Parameters during the experiment:

 • Wire feed = 8 mm/min

• Speed set for max feed rate = 3 mm/min

• Voltage = 40 V

Figure 3.1: Makino WEDM

3.6 MEASUREMENT OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS (Ra)

Surface roughness basically known to us as roughness is the measurement of the

irregularities and rugged space on the material surface. It can be basically done in two ways and
methodologies and they are Contact and non-contact methods.

In contact methods we use a probe stylus across the surface to calculate the roughness.
The instruments that are used to check the roughness is a profilometers.

The non-contact methods are interferometry, non-local microscope, focus variation,

electron microscope and photogrammetry.

In our project we are using the TR200 contact surface roughness tester which has a
diamond stylus that gives us the exact values and reliable measurements and confirms to the US
Standards. It is denoted by the symbol Ra.
 Figure 3.2: Titanium slices cut with new brass wire

Figure 3.3: Titanium slices cut with re-used brass wire

CONCLUSION
In this learning, the influence of a brand new Brass wire on the performance of wire electrical
discharge machining is compared with re-used brass wire. The effect of process parameters such
as current, tension, T-ON and T-OFF on the Material Removal Rate and Surface Roughness is
calculated. The experiments are conducted based on a L9 Orthogonal array which is designed by
Taguchi. Based on the experimental results and analysis, the following results can be drawn:

 While slicing the work piece with both the new brass and the re-used brass
wire ,Experiments results of wire electric discharge machining of titanium indicates that
mainly the peak current and T-ON have a very important effect on MRR and surface
roughness
 Investigation results of wire electric discharge machining of titanium specifies that
Tension of the wire have a very key role in surface roughness while cutting the material
with re-used brass wire
 The surface roughness value increases when the pulse on and peak current increases and
the surface roughness value is higher in the case where the titanium rod is cut with the re-
used brass wire than with the new brass wire.

Abstract
 Wire electric discharge machine (WEDM) is a spark erosion non-conventional machining
method to cut hard and conductive material with the help of a wire electrode.

 The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of parameters on metal removal rate
for WEDM using titanium as work-piece and brass wire as electrode.

 It is observed that metal removal rate and surface roughness increases with increase in
pulse on time.

Sample Abstract
 The workpiece produced by wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) has the surface
variations caused by simultaneous heating and cooling process during machining. The
thermally affected layers have great effect on mechanical and metallurgical properties. It
is not possible to achieve good surface finish (Ra) with a single pass. After the machining
process few finishing passes have to be used to produce a better surface finish. In this
paper an attempt is made to achieve maximum surface finish by using multi cutting
passes in WEDM. The Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) workpieces were machined at
one, two and three cutting passes and the Ra of the workpieces of MMC is measured.
Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) picture is analyzed to study the
white layer or recast layer and heat affected zone (HAZ) in the machined surface of the
workpiece. By the experimental results, it is found that Ra value is reduced by increasing
the number of cutting passes. In rough cutting pass the white layer is formed which
increases the surface cracks and craters. In semi finish cutting passes the thickness of the
white layer is reduced and it decreases the surface cracks and craters and in finish cutting
pass the white layer is completely removed.