Investigation of machining rate and surface roughness in wire EDM of Al6063/WC/ZrO2 composite using response surface methodology

Abstract

The aim of the current work is to explore the machinability behavior of Al6063/WC/ZrO2 metal matrix composites (MMC) produced through a stir casting process through wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process. In order to examine the effects of process parameters such as voltage (V), pulse on time (Ton) and pulse off time (Toff) on material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR), the experiments were conducted by adapting Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in conjunction with the central composite design (CCD). A second-order regression model has been developed to predict the response parameters and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to validate the significance of the models. Using the desirability function approach, the parameters were set for the highest MRR and the minimum SR value. The prediction was within a tolerable average error range. A total of 19 sets of tests were developed to obtain six possible solutions. The most suitable solution among these six has been found by a confirmatory experiment. The results indicate that voltage and its interactions have significantly affected both the responses than Ton and Toff. Overall, it can be said that the study of the Al6063/WC/ZrO2 MMCs using WEDM process parameters demonstrated improved casting and machining qualities.