Abstract
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a non-conventional machining process, which is mostly used for machining of difficult-to-cut materials. These materials are often used in engineering applications that require improved surface properties; thus, surface modification is desirable in these cases. In the recent past, it has been observed that EDM is an alternative surface modification process due to migration of material from the electrode to the workpiece surface. Surface modification can be done with powder metallurgy (P/M) electrode as tool. The aim of this work is to examine the surface modification of the tool steel Calmax (Uddeholm) by EDM process using Cu-30 wt.% ZrO2 P/M green compact electrode. The influence of peak current (Ip) and pulse-on (Ton) on the Material Transfer Rate (MTR) and Surface Roughness (SR) was investigated and the surface characteristics were also evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results confirm the material migration from the electrode to the machined surface and show that the higher MTR of 46.5 mgr/min is achieved on the combination of Ip = 9 A and Ton = 25 μs and the Ra varies from 3.72 μm to 7.12 μm.
Highlights
In engineering applications, the lifetime of the machined parts is an important topic
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) was used for surface modification of tool steel and the electrode material was used as a green compact electrode consisting of Cu and ZrO2 powders formed by powder metallurgy (P/M)
The EDMed surface is directly related to the discharge energy, and to the machining conditions
Summary
The lifetime of the machined parts is an important topic. The surface failure is mainly caused when the machined parts are exposed to aggressive conditions such as high temperatures and complicated corrosive environments. EDM is used in a lot of industries such as aerospace, automotive, micro-electronics, biomedical, die, and mold production [4]. In this process, electric sparks formed between the electrode and the workpiece separated by dielectric fluid. The formation of this kind of coating has led to the technique of surface modification by EDM. This process is termed Electric Discharge Coating (EDC)
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