Experimental investigations on coated copper wire and annealed copper wire electrodes in wire EDM machining through a comparative assessment employing the TOPSIS technique

Abstract

Metals that are electrically conductive but are difficult to work with are typically machined using WEDM (Wire Electric Discharge Machining). The production of tiny components, which are challenging to mill using earlier non-traditional machining techniques, has undergone a substantial transformation thanks to these machines. Two wire electrodes coated copper wire and annealed copper wire electrodes are used for the testing in this investigation, and the analysis is completed utilizing the tool material. The workpiece material, D2 Steel, was cut into cubes that were 10 mm thick for the experiment, and a wire electrode with a diameter of 0.25 mm was used. Using an L27 orthogonal array, six input variables were employed at three different levels in the testing. The TOPSIS technique is utilized to optimize the output variables, leading to the determination of various output parameters, including Material removal rate (MRR), Kerf width (KW), tool wear rate (TWR), and surface roughness (SR). The chosen input variables include wire tension (WT), a gap voltage (GV), input current (IP), wire feed rate (WF), pulse off time (Toff), and pulse on time (Ton). The 10 mm-wide D2 steel was milled using two wire electrodes, and an ANOVA table was made to identify the factors that had the greatest impact on the WEDM parameters. The rank and ideal Wire EDM parameter values must be calculated using main effect plots and tables of replies. From this investigation, we can also draw the conclusion that for machining D2 steel, annealed wire electrodes provide greater MRR than coated wire.