Analysis of the electrical discharge machining (EDM) performance on Ramor 550 armor steel

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the electrical discharge machining (EDM) performance of Ramor 500 Armor steel, a material used in the defense industry for armor production. In addition, the surface quality and amount of material wear of the treated surfaces were determined using different electrical discharge processing parameters for a copper electrode including pulse on-time (99, 150, 225, 300, 351 μs), pulse off-time (10, 15, 23, 30, 35 μs), and discharge current (3, 4, 6, 8, 9 A), at a constant pressure of 1 mm depth of cut. As a result of the experiments, the values related to the material removal rate (MRR) and the surface roughness (Ra) were obtained and the findings analyzed via response surface methodology (RSM). The increase in amperage and pulse on time resulted in an increase in Ra and MRR values. The minimum and maximum Ra and MRR values emerged at currents of 3 and 9 A, respectively. In the experiments performed applying currents of between 3 and 9 A, the white layer widths were measured as 0.0474 mm and 0.0915 mm, respectively. The statistical test results showed that the most effective processing parameters for the MRR were the discharge current amperage (49.01 %) and the pulse off-time (16.51 %), whereas the most effective parameter for the Ra value was the discharge current amperage (79.07 %).