Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
DOI 10.1007/s00170-014-6002-5
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
An analysis and optimization of the geometrical inaccuracy
in WEDM rough corner cutting
Zhi Chen · Yu Huang · Zhen Zhang · He Li ·
Wu yi Ming · Guojun Zhang
Received: 17 December 2013 / Accepted: 22 May 2014 / Published online: 17 June 2014
© Springer-Verlag London 2014
Abstract Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM)
has occupied an important position in some high-precision
and high-performance manufacturing industries due to its
capability of accurate and efficient machining parts with
varying hardness or complex shapes. However, the high-
machining precision and efficiency, especially at rough cor-
ner cutting, cannot be satisfied simultaneously because of
some phenomena such as wire rupture, deflection, vibration,
etc. This paper aims to analyze and reduce the geometrical
inaccuracy of rough corner cutting; first of all, the major
causes of corner inaccuracy (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ angle) are
analyzed in detail. Secondly, an elliptic fitting method is
proposed to describe the trajectory of wire electrode center,
and the feasibility of model is confirmed by measuring the
corner edge of workpiece. Moreover, three sets of Taguchi
experiments (L27 37 ) are designed to investigate the main
effect and influence trends of control factors on corner
error. Eventually, some optimized control factor combina-
tions are sought by generalized non-linear regression model.
Z. Chen · Y. Huang · Z. Zhang · H. Li · W. Ming
School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong
University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
Z. Chen
e-mail: zhichen415@gmail.com
G. Zhang ()
State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment &
Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074,
China
e-mail: zhanggj.hust@gmail.com
G. Zhang
Guangdong Province Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing
Equipment, Dongguan 523000, China
As a result of confirmatory experiments, more than 50 %
decrease of corner error has been achieved at 5 mm/min
cutting feedrate (a high-cutting feedrate of the machine
tool used in this study) by the optimized control factors
combination in rough corner cutting.
Keywords Wire electrical discharge machining · Rough
corner cutting · Inaccuracy · Optimization · Control factor
1 Introduction
Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is widely
used in high-precision molds, micro-mechanical compo-
nents, electronics, and aerospace industries because of its
capability of machining parts with intricate shapes and
hard materials [1, 2]. In modern manufacturing industry, it
requires some performance simultaneously, such as preci-
sion, surface finish, and cutting time [3], while in actual
rough corner-cutting process, it has to sacrifice machin-
ing efficiency to satisfy high precision, so it is necessary
to understand the behavior of wire electrode and the fun-
damental mechanism of geometrical inaccuracy in corner
cutting.
A large number of previous researches about the process
parameters to simultaneously obtain high-surface quality
and cutting speed which have been carried out [4–8]. There
are also many researches on machining precision in the
past. Puri and Bhattacharyya, Sarkar et al., Mingqi et al.,
and Zhang et al. [9–12] focused on improving accuracy
due to wire lag in straight path cutting; therefore, some
fitting methods are used to describe the wire center trajec-
tory, such as quadratic regression fitting, arc fitting, and a
parabolic fitting. Mohri et al., Puri and Bhattacharyya, and
Okada et al. [13–15] investigated the characteristic effects
918
of wire vibration and presented some methods of decreasing
vibration amplitude; some analysis approaches for the solu-
tion of the wire electrode vibration equation are presented
to investigate the characteristic effects of wire vibration.
Yan and Huang [16] designed a closed loop wire tension
control system to improve machining accuracy; according
to the experiment result, approximately 50 % corner-error
has been reduced and the vertical straightness significantly
improved. Hsue et al. [17] proposed fundamental geome-
try analysis and a model to calculate the metal removal rate
in corner cutting, and an exponential function is used to
fit the wire center trajectory. Han et al. [18] implemented
a simulation method of corner error in WEDM rough cut-
ting; it can provide some references for the study of a
control method in improving the corner machining accu-
racy. Lin et al. [19] developed a control strategy based
on fuzzy logic to increase precision in corner-cutting pro-
cess, and the result shows that machining accuracy improves
more than 50 % of those in normal machining, while the
machining process time increases not more than 10 % of the
normal value. Sanchez et al. [20] studied the influence of
cutting speed limitation on the accuracy of WEDM corner
cutting.
Some approaches are proposed to improve the machin-
ing accuracy in the above researches, and the improving
accuracy result is also significant. While the mechanism of
corner-error is unknown, and the discharge concentration
phenomenon in acute rough corner cutting is rarely taken
into account; besides, optimizing process control factors
may be another method to decreasing corner-error.
In this paper, firstly, the major causes of corner inac-
curacy are investigated to clearly understand formation
mechanism of corner-error in different angles’ rough corner
cutting and wire deflection; vibration and discharge concen-
tration phenomenon is taken into consideration. Secondly,
an elliptic model fitting method is proposed to describe the
wire center trajectory, and it can be found that the wire cen-
ter trajectory can be fitted to an elliptic theoretical model
preferably in the right and obtuse angle corner cutting.
Moreover, three sets of Taguchi experiments (L27 37 ) are
designed to analyze the main effect and influence trends
of control factors on corner-error in 45◦ , 90◦ ,and 135◦
angle rough corner cutting respectively. Finally, three gen-
eralized non-linear regression models are built to seek the
optimal control factors’ combination in corner cutting (45◦ ,
90◦ , 135◦ angle) respectively. The result of confirmatory
experiments demonstrates that more than 50 % decrease of
corner error has been achieved at 5 mm/min cutting fee-
drate (a high-cutting feedrate of the machine tool used in
this study) by the optimized control factors’ combination
in rough corner cutting; in addition, it can be also found
that the generalized non-linear regression models have a
capacity for predicting preferable corner-error.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
2 Causes for corner inaccuracy
In order to better understand the forming mechanism of cor-
ner error, three main causes, namely unbalance of external
load, wire deflection, and discharge concentration phe-
nomenon, are presented and analyzed in this section.
2.1 The unbalance of external load on wire electrode
In the WEDM process, the wire electrode suffers wire
tension, discharge spark force, hydraulic forces, electro-
static force, electrodynamics force, etc. [13]; furthermore,
all of them are of different natures and directions. Hydraulic
forces push the wire electrode back of the CNC path due
to flushing, gas spreading, and bursting, while electrostatic
force attracts the wire electrode to discharge surface and off-
sets each other on both sides of wire electrode. Besides, the
discharge spark force is a resultant force of material remov-
ing force, discharge pressure, explosive force, etc., and its
value depends on the characteristic of material and the pro-
cess parameters. In addition, the discharge spark force is the
major cause of wire electrode deflection and vibration. As
shown in Fig. 1, points A and B are the actual position and
CNC path position of wire electrode, respectively, and the
distance between point A and point B is the wire lag (δ),
Fr is the resultant force of the discharge spark forces and
hydraulic forces, Ft is the lateral component force of wire
tension, and Fr and Ft are a pair of balance forces in stable
straight path machining. However, as shown in Fig. 2, the
directions of Fr and Ft are no longer in the same line on cor-
ner cutting, so an unbalance force (Fs ) is produced because
of the changing of discharge surface and discharge angle,
then the machining inaccuracy increases sharply due to the
unstable machining, wire deflection, and vibration varying
obviously.
Figure 3 is the top view of change of discharge angle in
corner cutting, where O1 and O2 are the first and second
wire center points, and θ1 and θ2 are the first and second
discharge angles, respectively, θ is corner-cutting angle, and
d0 is the machining gap.
Fig. 1 Force analysis in stable straight path machining
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
Fig. 2 Force analysis in corner cutting
2.2 Wire deflection and vibration
Although the wire electrode is tiny and flexible, it is also
with some rigidity under puny discharge spark force in fact.
In the actual machining process, the wire center always is
pulled back of the CNC path, the wire lag (δ) has non-
significant impact on straight path machining precision,
while deflection and vibration are the major causes of the
corner error [21]. As shown in Fig. 4, a collapsing phe-
nomenon is formed in rough corner cutting due to the wire
lag of the CNC path and actual path, and the wire lag can
be of the order of a hundred microns, which becomes unac-
ceptable for most precise applications [3]. Meanwhile, the
vibration amplitude may be up to 20 μm and plays a more
important role to decide the accuracy of thin and small parts
[13, 14].
d0 = r + A
In the above equation, d0 is the machining gap, and r and
A are the discharge radius and wire vibration amplitude,
respectively.
Fig. 3 A top view of change of discharge angle in corner cutting
919
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of corner-error in right angle corner cutting
2.3 The discharge concentration phenomenon
The electric field intensity and electron emission can be
enhanced obviously in an acute angle part machining due
to the accumulation of electric discharges and the change
of the discharge angle. Hence, the discharge concentration
phenomenon would have more outstanding performance,
and the removed material cannot be washed away easily as
the line cutting. Besides, according to Eq. 1, the machin-
ing gap (d0 ) increases visibly because of the sharp raising
of discharge radius (r). In the practical rough corner-cutting
process, the acute angle corner error is several times larger
than the obtuse and right angles, and the discharge concen-
tration is a natural phenomenon which can just be decreased
by some approaches in acute angle corner cutting.
In addition, there are some non-significant influences of
corner inaccuracy, such as material chip difficultly pushed
and rise of cutting temperature.
According to the above analysis, a summary of major
(1)
causes in different angle corner cutting can be obtained in
Table 1.
3 Geometry model of wire electrode center trajectory
Although a large number of researchers have been carried
out to qualitatively analyze and quantitatively calculate the
wire deflection and vibration, a very few researches about
the corner error have been performed due to numerous com-
plexities, such as variation of wire lag, enhancement of wire
vibration, complex discharge concentration mechanism, etc.
Even though a system based on the on-line monitoring
of the wire position has been designed by method of an
optical sensor [3], the real-time control of wire position can-
not be easily carried out, especially in rough corner cutting.
It is necessary to propose a geometry model of wire cen-
ter trajectory to quantitatively study and predict the corner
error.
920 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929

Table 1 Major causes in

different angle corner cutting Angle Angle≥ 135◦ 45◦ ≤ Angle≤ 135◦ Angle≤ 45◦

Major causes Lag and vibration Lag, vibration and discharge concentration Discharge concentration

3.1 Geometrical modeling of wire lag the wire diameter (m), and q is the distributed spark force
(N/m2 ).
The wire electrode suffers bending deformation in nature Through the above simplification, the wire mass, inertia
because of the wire tension, explosive force from gas bub- force, and vibration are ignored because of their non-
bles, plasma of the erosion mechanism, hydraulic forces due significant influences on wire lag function, so Eq. 2 can also
to flushing, electrostatic force, electrodynamic force, etc. In be simplified as Eq. 3.
addition, the actual mechanical behavior of the wire center q(z,t )h 2T δ
electrode is very complicated in cutting process due to the ≈ (3)
2 L−h
variation of forces, mechanical capacity of materials, highly
Then, the wire lag δ can be calculated by Eq. 4.
randomness of discharge sparks, etc. wherein this stochastic
nature is closely related to a lot of factors, such as fluctu- qh(L − h)
δ= (4)
ation of pulse voltage and current, random ionic migration, 4T
randomness of discharge times and point, different purity Equation 4 describes a simplified formula of wire lag (δ)
and electric conductivity of materials, and so on [9]. In this in statical state, and the wire lag has been found to have an
subsection, a quantitative model of wire lag (δ) is proposed increasing trend with the increase of distribute spark forces
by the geometric analysis, for simplification, the following (q), workpiece thickness (h), and the span of two guide
basic assumptions are required in the straight line cutting:
a. Workpiece is symmetrically set between two guide
wheels.
b. The wire axial tensile force is constant, and the wire is
static (not moving) [9, 10, 18].
c. The wire electrode is thin and flexible, and wire mass is
uniformly distributed along its length [9, 10, 18].
d. The wire vibration can be ignored because the damping
coefficient is appreciable in a thick workpiece machin-
ing process; a 25-mm-thick block of SKD-11 steel is
used in this study [22].
e. The discharge resultant force, which is acting on the
wire perpendicular to the axial force, can be regarded as
distributed spark force acting per unit length of the wire,
and the direction of this force is opposite to the cutting
direction, as shown in Fig. 4 [3, 9, 10, 23].
As shown in Fig. 5, the wire trajectory in the discharge
area and non-discharge area can be simply divided into three
lines; the former simplification is derived from the fact that
wire lag (δ) is 10 ∼ 30 times bigger than the deflection in
the discharge area [11], and the latter one is due to the fact
that no extra load acts on the wire in the non-discharge area.
The wire mechanical analysis can be proposed as Eq. 2,

∂ 2y ∂ 4y ∂ 2y ∂y
T − EI = ρ +β + q(z,t ) (2)
∂z2 ∂z4 ∂zt ∂t
where L is the span of two guide wheels (m), h is the work-
piece thickness (m), T is the wire tension (N), y is the wire
lag function(m), t is the time (s), ρ is the wire mass (kg/m3 ),
β is the damping coefficient (Ns/m2 ), E is the Young’s Fig. 5 Schematic diagram of static deflection of wire tool in wire
modulus (N/m2 ), I is the area moment of inertia (m4 ), d EDM process
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929 921

wheels (L); on the contrary, there is an inverse relationship

between the wire lag (δ) and the wire tension (T ).

3.2 Geometrical modeling of corner error

In this subsection, three elliptic models are proposed to fit

the wire center trajectory in the right, acute, and obtuse
angle corner cutting, respectively. As shown in Fig. 6, the
actual wire center position asymmetrically deviates from the
CNC path. The error of cut-in part increases quickly and
may be decided by the wire lag; however, the error of cut-
out part decreases slowly and may be decided by machining
conditions. Fig. 7 The top view of wire deflection in right angle corner cutting
Moreover, each mass point of wire is also in a plane under
the deformation phenomenon, and mechanical analysis can machining conditions and wire mass (m0 ), and it can be
be simplified as Eq. 5. acquired by Eq. 7. The independent variable (x) represents
 2   4 
∂ x ∂ 2y ∂ x ∂ 4y the displacement of guides relative to the apex of the corner
T + − EI + on the workpiece. Obviously, there is another mathematical
∂z2 ∂z2 ∂z4 ∂z4
 2    expression of Eq. 6 which can be worked out as Eq. 8.
∂ x ∂ 2y ∂x ∂y 
=ρ + t +β + + q(z,t ) (5)
∂zt ∂z ∂t ∂t m0 (L − h)
a=v (7)
In Fig. 7, the cutting feedrate (v) is set as a constant in the T
stable cutting, and the CNC path is A1 − A2 − A3 − A4 , 
while the actual wire trajectory is B1 − B2 − B3 − B4 due (x − a)2
y =b−b 1− (8)
to the wire lag (δ). The wire trajectory plane turns 90◦ in a2
right angle corner cutting, and the wire lag (δ) is changed a In a similar way, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, two fitting
little because machining parameters remain unchanged, so elliptic models may be derived as Eqs. 9 and 10 in acute and
the actual wire center trajectory in the corner cutting can be obtuse angle corner cutting.
fitted to an elliptic model according to the composition of
(x − a − x0 )2 (y − b)2
dimensional motions and the simulation result in ADMAS + =1 (9)
simulation software. a2 b2
As shown Fig. 8, a fitting elliptic model can be derived 
in right angle corner cutting as Eq. 6, (x − a − x0 )2
y =b−b 1− (10)
a2
(x − a)2 (y − b)2
2
+ =1 (6) The constraint conditions may be obtained as the CNC
a b2
path that is tangent to the fitting elliptic model at the
where b (minor axis of the ellipse) may be equal to wire point (δ cos θ, δ sin θ), then the boundary conditions can be
lag, a (major axis of the ellipse) is a parameter relating to proposed as Eqs. 11, 12, and 13.
(δcosθ − a − x0 )2 (δsinθ − b)2
+ =1 (11)
a2 b2

Fig. 6 Wire center trajectory in right angle rough corner cutting Fig. 8 Fitting elliptic model in right angle corner cutting
922
Fig. 9 Fitting elliptic model in acute angle corner cutting
There is just one intersection point between Eqs. 12 and 13,
y = xtanθ (12)
(x − a − x0 )2 (y − b)2
+ =1 (13)
a2 b2
where b may be a decision for wire lag (δ), a and x0 are
parameters relating to machining conditions, and θ is the
discharge angle and ranges from acute angle to obtuse angle.
3.3 Confirmatory experiment of the geometry model
Through the above modeling process, there are two or
three parameters related to machining conditions due to the
immeasurability of the CNC traction and the distributed
spark force, so the feasibility of fitting elliptic model should
be confirmed by measuring the geometrical edge of the
workpiece.
The confirmatory experiment is carried out on a W-
A530 WEDM machine with iso-energy-type plus generator,
which is made by Dongguan Hustinova Precision Machin-
ery Co., Ltd., and it is equipped with deionized water
as dielectric fluid (resistance value 80 ) to obtain high
efficiency and accuracy [24]. A brass wire of 0.25-mm
diameter is used as tool electrode in all experiments, and
the workpiece is a 25-mm-thick block of SKD-11 steel
(C, 1.50 %; Cr, 12.0 %; Mo, 0.80 %; V, 0.7 %; Mn,
Fig. 10 Fitting elliptic model in obtuse angle corner cutting
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
0.45 %; and Si, 0.25 %), which is a high-carbon and high-
chromium alloy tool steel used in the production of dies,
plastic injection molding dies, precision gauges, spindle,
jigs, fixtures, etc. Furthermore, the geometrical edge is mea-
sured by KEYENCE VH-Z500R (a high-accuracy digital
microscope) at ×500 magnification.
The machining parameter condition is set as follows:
water pressure (5 Kg/cm2 ), pulse on time (12 μs), pulse off
time (12 μs), pulse peak voltage (40 V), cutting feedrate
(4 mm/min), wire tension (10 Kgf), wire speed (10 m/min),
pulse average current (10 A), and the span of two guide
wheels is 45 mm.
Firstly, the point coordinates of workpiece edge are mea-
sured by digital microscope. Secondly, a fitting elliptic
equation is deduced by the least square method. Then, the
parameters (a, b, x0 ), which are related to machining con-
ditions in the elliptic theoretical model, can be calculated.
Eventually, the wire CNC path, actual trajectory, and model
trajectory are drawn in the same figure.
Three confirmatory experiments are carried out in this
subsection, and the cutting angles are 45◦ , 90◦ , 135◦ respec-
tively. In addition, the parameters (a, b, x0 ) of three elliptic
theoretical models are listed in Table 2, and the wire CNC
path, actual trajectory, and model trajectory are drawn in
Figs. 11, 12, and 13, respectively.
In conclusion, the wire actual trajectory can be fitted
to an elliptic theoretical model preferably in the right and
obtuse angle corner cutting. While there is deviation of 0 ∼
8 μm between elliptic model and actual trajectory of wire
electrode, this phenomenon maybe a result in the rise of dis-
charge radius due to discharge concentration phenomenon
in acute angle corner cutting.
4 Taguchi experiment and optimization of process
parameters
In consideration of so many disadvantages of the corner-
error, there are some traditional approaches to solve this
problem, such as stoping machining at corner point, reduc-
ing the cutting feedrate, adapting the programmed path [19,
25], etc. The former two methods sacrifice the machining
efficiency to meet high accuracy, so the advantage of the
Table 2 Parameters (a, b, x0 ) of three elliptic theoretical models
Parameters 45◦ 90◦ 135◦
Major axis a (μm) 39.5 76.5 86.1
Minor axis b (μm) 15.8 30.6 34.4
x0 (μm) 18.8 0 −27.8
Wire lag δ (μm) 30.4 30.7 30.9
Error (μm) 26.5 18.4 8.6
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929 923

Fig. 11 Wire center trajectory in acute angle (45◦ ) corner cutting Fig. 13 Wire center trajectory in obtuse angle (135◦ ) corner cutting

high precision and efficient machining technique cannot be
perfectly presented, while the last one is just applied in
some manufacturing area, and it increases the cut-time too.
Meanwhile, on-line modifying the wire path is proposed to
improve accuracy at some degree in the advanced machine
tool [3], whereas this method cannot improve machining
accuracy under large deflection and big discharge radius
very well.
According to the elliptic theoretical model, the corner-
cutting error has a direct relationship to wire lag, discharge
radius, cutting feedrate, and so on, and since the wire lag
may be decided by distributed spark force, the span of two
guide wheels, wire tension, and workpiece thickness. More-
over, the discharge radius may depend on the discharge
voltage, cutting angle, workpiece material, and discharge
concentration phenomenon. In a word, the accurate calcu-
lation model of corner-cutting error is too complex to be
derived. However, some decreasing corner-error approaches
can be proposed by using experiment method although
accurate calculation model is unknown.
Taguchi experiment has been widely applied in DOE to
obtain the characteristic data by using orthogonal arrays, to
analyze the main effects of objective variables, and to seek
the optimal process parameters in an extremely complicated
process [9, 26–28]. In this section, three sets of experi-
ments (L27 37 ) are designed based on the Taguchi method of
experimental design to evaluate the main effect factors and
influence trends on corner error in 45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ angle
rough corner cutting respectively.
4.1 Experimental design and results
The flowchart of optimizing parameters is drawn as in
Fig. 14, and seven process parameters (water pressure (A),
pulse on time (B), pulse off time (C), pulse peak voltage
(D), cutting feedrate (E), wire tension (F ), and wire speed
(G)) are selected as the control factors wherein each factor
is designed to have three levels as given in Table 3. Besides,
the pulse average current maintains as a constant value
(10 A) because it cannot be set in rough cutting, and the
other machining conditions are the same with Section 3.3.
Taguchi experiments (L27 37 ) are designed by MINITAB
16 (a statistical analysis software), and the measured data of
corner-error are listed in Table 4.
4.2 Main effects of analysis and discussion of corner error

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a method used for signifi-

cance analysis of two or more factors [29, 30], and variance

Table 3 Factors and their levels on rough corner cutting

Factors Levels Unit

Water pressure (A) 3 5 7 Kg/cm2

Pulse on time (B) 8 12 16 μs
Pulse off time (C) 8 12 16 μs
Pulse peak voltage (D) 30 40 50 V
Cutting feedrate (E) 3 4 5 mm/min
Wire tension (F ) 5 10 15 Kgf
Wire speed (G) 5 10 15 m/min
Fig. 12 Wire center trajectory in right angle (90◦ ) corner-cutting
924 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929

ratios (F values) of factors are calculated by Eq. 14,

Fig. 14 The flowchart of optimizing parameters

n
SSA = m xi − x 2 (14)
i=1
where SSA is the effect quadratic sum of factor A, n is the
level of factor A, m is the level of other parameter, xi is the
average of factor A, and x is the average of total factor.
In this subsection, analysis of variance is applied to ana-
lyze the main effects of corner-error, and F values are a key
indicator which presents the magnitude of each control fac-
tor, then a unitary processing for each F value is made to
evaluate synthetic effect of each factor. Figure 15 shows the
variance ratios (F values) for water pressure (A), pulse on
time (B), pulse off time (C), pulse peak voltage (D), cutting
feed rate (E), wire tension (F ), and wire speed (G).
In three sets of experiments (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦), com-
pared with the variances and degrees of contribution for
each control factor from Fig. 14, it is found that the influ-
ence trends of each process factor to corner-error (45◦ ,

Table 4 Experimental design and data

No. A (Kg/cm2 ) B (μs) C (μs) D (V ) E (mm/min) F (Kgf) G (m/min) e − 45◦ (μm) e − 90◦ (μm) e − 135◦ (μm)

1 3 8 8 30 3 5 5 22.6 14.5 8.2

2 3 8 8 30 4 10 10 34.9 20.6 11.7
3 3 8 8 30 5 15 15 50.8 28.3 18.7
4 3 12 12 40 3 5 5 40.1 28.1 13.3
5 3 12 12 40 4 10 10 58.9 38 22.8
6 3 12 12 40 5 15 15 79.9 48.9 36.1
7 3 16 16 50 3 5 5 77.6 53.9 37.2
8 3 16 16 50 4 10 10 86.9 59.7 30.7
9 3 16 16 50 5 15 15 114.7 74.5 53.6
10 5 8 12 50 3 10 15 35.1 19.4 8.7
11 5 8 12 50 4 15 5 50.7 28.3 18.9
12 5 8 12 50 5 5 10 76.6 46.6 32.4
13 5 12 16 30 3 10 15 23.3 13.4 8.7
14 5 12 16 30 4 15 5 44.5 28 15.4
15 5 12 16 30 5 5 10 62.9 43 26
16 5 16 8 40 3 10 15 56.3 41.3 24.3
17 5 16 8 40 4 15 5 71.5 51 31
18 5 16 8 40 5 5 10 114.1 78.6 62.6
19 7 8 16 40 3 15 10 18.6 10.1 10.7
20 7 8 16 40 4 5 15 39.7 22.5 9.1
21 7 8 16 40 5 10 5 55.9 32.8 14.2
22 7 12 8 50 3 15 10 43.3 28.8 12.7
23 7 12 8 50 4 5 15 78.5 49.7 37.8
24 7 12 8 50 5 10 5 88.9 57.7 39.4
25 7 16 12 30 3 15 10 49.6 35.5 24.5
26 7 16 12 30 4 5 15 72.2 50.7 35.7
27 7 16 12 30 5 10 5 92.2 63.8 42.7

e − 45◦ error in 45◦ angle corner cutting, e − 90◦ error in 90◦ angle corner cutting, e − 135◦ error in 135◦ angle corner cutting
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
Fig. 15 Analysis of variance of control factors in 45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦
corner-error
90◦ , and 135◦ ) is roughly the same, more specifically, the
corner-errors are found to have an increasing trend with
the increase of pulse on time (B), pulse peak voltage (D),
and cutting feedrate (E). This establishes the fact that the
distributed spark force is positively associated with the dis-
charge power, and the discharge power can be calculated by
Eq. 15. On the contrary, the corner-errors have a decreas-
ing trend with the increasing of pulse off time (C) and
wire tension (F ). Influence trend of the former factor can
be explained by Eq. 15, while the influence trend of the
latter one is attributed to the reason that the wire lag is
in inverse proportion to the wire tension (F ). In addition,
water pressure (A) and wire speed (G) have a little influence
on corner-error. The little influence of water pressure (A)
indicates that hydraulic force is also small compared with
distributed spark force, and the little influence of wire speed
(G) shows that the assumption (wire is static) is feasible in
calculating corner-error,
 tp
E(t ) = U(t ) I(t ) dt
0 Table 5 The order of importance of each factor
where E(t ) is the discharge power, U(t ) is the pulse peak
voltage, I(t ) is the pulse peak voltage current, tON is the
pulse on time, tOFF is the pulse off time, and tp is the pulse
period.
Although the influence trends of each process factor for
corner-errors (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) are similar, each factor
has totally different impact on corner-errors as shown in
Table 5.
925
a. In acute angle (45◦ ) corner cutting, cutting feedrate (E)
is the most important factor for corner-error, and this
is because of the positive correlation between cutting
feedrate (E) and major axis (a) of the ellipse fitting
equation according to Eq. 7. Moreover, the discharge
control factors (pulse on time (B), pulse off time (C),
and pulse peak voltage (D)) are also important control
factors due to the discharge concentration phenomenon
always existing significantly. However, the wire tension
(F ) is relatively insignificant for corner-error.
b. In contrast, wire tension (F ) is the main factor for
corner-error, and the discharge control factors (pulse
on time (B), pulse off time (C), and pulse peak volt-
age (D)) become less important in obtuse angle (135◦ )
corner cutting. This is in support of the fact that the dis-
charge concentration phenomenon almost disappears,
so the wire deflection rises to the main effect on corner-
error, and there is a close correlation between wire
deformation phenomenon and wire tension.
c. On the other hand, it is found that there are no very
significant differences of the importance of discharge
control factors (pulse on time (B), pulse off time (C),
and pulse peak voltage (D)), cutting feedrate (E), and
wire tension (F ) in the right angle corner cutting. This
can be explained that corner-error is affected by a com-
bination of wire deflection, cutting feedrate (E), and the
discharge concentration phenomenon.
4.3 Generalized non-linear regression model
Generalized non-linear regression model is a statistical anal-
ysis technique which combines the mechanism of variance
analysis with the mechanism of regression analysis, and it
is widely used in analyzing the relationship between several
dependent variables and independent multi-variable. More-
over, it has enough capacity to solve complex non-linear
problems such as modeling, prediction, optimization, and
adaptive control [31–33]. In this subsection, three gener-
alized non-linear regression models are built to obtain the
relationship between corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) and
control factors (water pressure (A), pulse on time (B), pulse
(15)
Angles Orders
A B C D (V) E F G
(Kg/cm2 ) (μs) (μs) (V) (mm/min) (Kgf) (m/min)
45◦ 6 2 3 4 1 5 7
90◦ 6 1 3 5 2 4 7
135◦ 7 3 2 5 4 1 6
926 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929

Fig. 16 Normal probability diagram in 45◦ angle corner-error

Fig. 18 Normal probability diagram in 90◦ angle corner-error

off time (C), pulse peak voltage (D), cutting feed rate (E),
wire tension (F ), and wire speed (G)) respectively.
The steps of the modeling process are as follows:
1. Identify the main goal. The main goal is to obtain a min-
imum corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) at high-cutting
feedrate (E).
2. Variance analysis. It can be found out that whether the
experimental data conform to normal distribution law
or not, and the main effect and influence trends of con-
trol factors on corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) can be
worked out in this step.
3. Full-factor quadratic regression. All monomial,
quadratic term, and cross term of each factor can be Fig. 19 Normal P-P in 90◦ angle corner-error (X∼ N(0, 12 ))
considered in this regression analysis.
4. Optimizing the regression analysis. Some items should
be removed separately to obtain an optimal general-
ized non-linear regression model according to the fitting
ratio of the model and p value (it is suitable that the p
value is near 0.05 and fitting ratio is more than 90 %).
On the basis of step 2, the results of variance analy-
sis about corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) are shown in
Figs. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 respectively, it can be
found that the experimental data of corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ ,
and 135◦ ) conform to normal distribution law as well, in Fig. 20 Normal probability diagram in 135◦ angle corner-error

Fig. 17 Normal P-P in 45◦ angle corner-error (X∼ N(0, 1.22 )) Fig. 21 Normal P-P in 135◦ angle corner-error (X∼ N(0,0.82 ))
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929 927

Table 6 The summary of three regression models e135◦ = 81.33 − 0.34A − 3.06B − 0.56B − 0.20D
Index Corner-error model −38.53E + 0.14G + 0.18B 2 − 0.02B × D
+1.08B × E − 0.18B × F + 0.35B × E
45◦ 90◦ 135◦
−0.06D × F + 2.66E 2 + 0.20F 2 (18)
S 4.45496 2.48689 3.41324
R − Sq (R 2 ) 98.29 % 98.16 % 97.43 % As Table 6 illustrated, the goodness-of-fit of three gener-
DOF 11 12 14 alized non-linear regression models are all more than 90 %,
Seq SS 17162.5 8631.80 5309.04 and the p values of three generalized non-linear regression
Adj SS 17162.5 8631.80 5309.04 models are all less than 0.05, which means that the three
Adj MS 1560.23 719.317 379.217 regression models are significant to the experimental data,
F value 78.6144 116.307 32.5502
and these three models can be used for predicting preferable
P value 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
corner-error.

S total variance, R−Sq (R 2 ) goodness-of-fit, DOF degrees of freedom,

Seq SS sequential sum of squares, Adj SS adjusted sum of squares, Adj
MS adjusted mean squares, F value and p value T checking index
other words, three generalized non-linear regression mod-
els can be proposed to optimize the control factors. Three
generalized non-linear regression models are derived out
by the means of the third and fourth steps. The regres-
sion models of corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) are shown
in Eqs. 16, 17, and 18, respectively. The high coincidence
degrees between experimental data and regression models
can be confirmed by high-fitting ratio and p values (as
shown in Table 5).
e45◦ = 7.69 − 0.76A − 4.29B − 0.51C − 0.92D + 8.30E
−0.67E + 0.07G + 0.28B 2 + 0.64B × E + 0.02
D 2 + 0.12D × E
e90◦ = 4.6 − 0.42A − 2.95B − 0.45C + 0.51D − 4.43E
0.60F − 0.10G + 0.21B 2 − 0.01B × D + 0.47B
×E + 0.04D × E + 1.23E 2
4.4 Optimization of control factors
In the actual manufacturing process, obtaining high preci-
sion and efficiency simultaneously could be ideal, while the
task of determining the optimal setting for each control fac-
tor is complicated when multiple characteristics are to be
optimized. According to Fig. 15 and main effect analysis
in Section 4.2, the ideal control factors may be following
combination of factors (A2 , B1 , C3 , D1 , E1 , F3 , G1 ). How-
ever, the combination of the factors cannot be realized in
actual machining process because the discharge control fac-
tors (pulse on time (B), pulse off time (C), and pulse peak
voltage (D)) are so conservative that the discharge power is
too small; therefore, material removing cannot be realized.
In addition, there is another complicated problem which is
the interaction effects of control factors in the optimization
process.
In this study, to obtain high efficiency, the optimization
process of control factors is carried out at 5 mm/min cut-
(16) ting feedrate. Above all, it must be found that how much
discharge power can maintain 5 mm/min cutting feedrate
continuously, and the discharge power can be calculated by
Eq. 15. A large number of tests have been conducted to
get the relationship between the discharge power and cut-
ting feedrate. Hence, it is found that the discharge power
(more than 125 W) can keep up 5 mm/min cutting feedrate.
(17) Secondly, based on three generalized non-linear regression

Table 7 Optimum factors’ combination models at 5 mm/min cutting feedrate

Angle A (Kg/cm2 ) B (μs) C (μs) D (V) E (mm/min) F (Kgf) G (m/min) Error (μm)

Optimal factors 45◦ 7 8 11 30 5 15 10 44.8

90◦ 7 8 11 30 5 15 15 24.97
135◦ 7 8 10 31 5 15 10 18.04
Preferable factors 45◦ 7 8 10 ∼ 11 30 ∼ 32 5 15 10 ∼ 15 44.80 ∼ 45.50
90◦ 7 8 10 ∼ 11 30 ∼ 32 5 15 12 ∼ 15 24.97 ∼ 25.87
135◦ 5∼7 8 10 ∼ 11 30 ∼ 31 5 15 10 ∼ 15 18.05 ∼ 19.20
928 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929

Table 8 Confirmatory experiment data

No. A (Kg/cm2 ) B (μs) C (μs) D (V) E (mm/min) F (Kgf) G (m/min) Predicted results Experimental results Average relative error (%)

45◦ 90◦ 135◦ 45◦ 90◦ 135◦

1 7 10 10 45 4 15 10 50 29.8 19.3 52.4 31.2 20.9 5.6

2 7 10 14 35 5 15 15 55.9 33.5 24.3 54.3 32.7 25.6 3.5
3 7 14 10 35 5 10 10 83 56.7 36.4 79.4 54.1 31.5 8.3
4 7 8 8 45 4 10 15 48.4 27.8 14.6 46.2 24.3 18.5 13.4
5 7 16 16 45 3 10 10 59.2 42.8 18.6 62.3 46.3 22.9 10.4
6 7 8 11 30 5 15 10 44.8 25.5 18.1 48.4 27.8 22.1 11.3
7 7 8 11 30 5 15 15 45.2 24.8 18.7 49.3 28.3 22.7 12.5
8 7 8 10 32 5 15 10 47.1 27.4 18 46.7 29.3 21.8 8.3

models, optimal factors and preferable combination of fac- error has been achieved by the optimized control factors’
tors can be proposed by MATLAB mathematical software, combination.
and they are shown in Table 7.

4.5 Confirmatory experiment of Taguchi method 5 Conclusions

Carrying out a confirmatory experiment is of great impor-
tance to experiment design and analysis, and it is an indis-
pensable part of Taguchi method. Its aim is to find out
closeness of estimation between actual corner-errors and
predicted results of three generalized non-linear regres-
sion models and insuring optimization process is effective
and significant. In this research, some confirmatory experi-
ments have been conducted; furthermore, the confirmatory
experiment data and the comparison of the predicted and
experimental results are displayed in Table 8 and Fig. 22,
respectively.
According to Table 8 and Fig. 22, it can be found that
average relative error between predicted and experimen-
tal results is near 10 %, and relative error is of random
distribution. Hence, it means that three generalized non-
linear regression models are of high predicted accuracy, and
it is also found that the almost 50 % decrease of corner
Fig. 22 Comparison of the predicted and experimental results
Geometry model of wire electrode center trajectory has been
proposed to quantificational calculate corner-error (45◦ ,
90◦ , 135◦ ) respectively. In addition, three sets of exper-
iments (L27 37 ) are designed to evaluate the main effect
and influence trends of control factors on corner-error
in 45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ angle rough corner-cutting respec-
tively. The following conclusions are drawn from the above
investigation:
1. The major causes of corner-error in different angles
rough corner cutting are presented and analyzed,
respectively. The wire deflection and vibration are the
main causes of right and obtuse angle corner cut-
ting. On the other hand, the discharge concentration
phenomenon plays an important role in acute angle
corner-cutting as well.
2. According to comparative results of the elliptic model
and actual trajectory of wire electrode, the wire center
trajectory can be fitted to an elliptic theoretical model
preferably in the right and obtuse angle corner cutting,
while there is deviation of 0 ∼ 8 μm between elliptic
model and actual trajectory of wire electrode due to the
obvious rising of discharge radius in acute angle corner
cutting.
3. Three sets of Taguchi experiments (L27 37 ) are designed
to evaluate the main effect and influence trends of con-
trol factors on corner-error in 45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ angle
rough corner-cutting respectively. By variance analy-
sis, it is found that the influence trends of each control
factors on corner-error (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦) is approxi-
mately the same; however, the orders of importance of
each factor are somewhat different in the three sets of
experiments (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ).
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2014) 74:917–929
4. Three generalized non-linear regression models are pro-
posed to optimize the control factors’ combination in
corner cutting (45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ ) respectively, and
the feasibilities of three regression models are proved
by the high predicted accuracy. In addition, it is also
found that the optimal control factors are significant
and preferable according to tiny average relative error
between predicted results and confirmatory experiment
data, and experimental result shows that almost 50 %
decrease of corner error has been achieved by the
optimized control factors’ combination.
Acknowledgments This study is mainly supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant No.
51175207. In addition, National Key Technology R & D Program
No.2012BAF13B07 and Science and Technology Planning Project of
Guangdong Province No.2012B011300015 both aid this research.
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