Experimental study on micro electrical discharge machining of alumina–titanium carbide ceramic materials

Abstract

When electric discharge machining (EDM) is used to process Al2O3-TiC ceramics, it is difficult to obtain an optimal production efficiency and tool wear rate. As the target demand of processing largely relies on the process parameters, it is pertinent to conduct an in-depth study on the process parameters. In this study, the effects of certain technological parameters on the properties of EDM Al2O3-TiC ceramic materials were assessed and a mixed 2–3 horizontal orthogonal test method was designed. The rules of machining polarity, inter-electrode voltage, peak current, gain, pulse frequency, pulse width, inter-electrode gap and electrode length loss, electrode profile loss, material removal rate were studied. The effect of process parameters on process performance was determined by range analysis. In addition, the analysis of variance revealed that machining polarity has a significant effect on the electrode loss while the electrode voltage and peak current significantly influenced the material removal rate. The optimal parameter combination was determined as negative machining polarity, 130 V inter-electrode voltage, 50 A peak current, 45 gain, 150 Hz pulse frequency, 1.0 μs pulse width, and 40 μs inter-electrode gap.