Investigation of machining parameters on corner accuracies for slant type taper triangle shaped profiles using WEDM on Hastelloy X

Abstract

Wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM) is a widely used machining process for machining of difficult to cut materials, which are used in precision profile applications like dies, metal stampings, and gas turbine parts. In the present research work, a new slant type taper fixture was used to obtain angular machining of triangular shape slots of sides 1mm, 3mm and 5mm machined both in 0° and 30° as slant angles on Hastelloy X. The corner radius and corner errors were investigated for different machining parameters like corner dwell time (CDT), offset distance (WO), wire guide distance (WGD) and cutting speed override (CSO) using L16 orthogonal array for both the slant angles. SEM micrographs indicated that corners were with lower radii at 30° than in 0° slant profiles, at lowest and highest cutting speeds. The main effects plot showed that the corner radius increases with the increase in wire offset and wire guide distance parameters. The increase in corner dwell time has an adverse effect on the corner radius. The triangles were machined at different cutting speeds from 0.47 to 1.51 mm/min with various parameters; it was observed that as the corner radius decreases the corner error also reduces. However, the corner radius and corner error can be minimized by selecting an optimized cutting parameter.