INVESTIGATION ON AL6061-SIC MMC FOR OPTIMIZATION OF DRILLING PARAMETERS USING BEE COLONY OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

Abstract

In this investigation, Bee Colony Optimization algorithm (BCO) has been utilized to extract the best suitable optimal control parameter values for the Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) in drilling holes over Al6061-SiC metal matrix composite for yielding better surface finish (Ra), maximum Material Removal Rate (MRR) and minimum Tool Wear Rate (TWR). Further to formulate an empirical relational equation between the above mentioned EDM process parameters, in this research, 27 different experiments had been carried out by varying the values of input control variables and are SiC particle Size (Ps), discharge current (Id) and pulse on time (Pon). The formulated second order relational equations have been used as the objective fitness function of the BCO algorithm to pinpoint the worthiness of the results. The developed BCO algorithm will examine the best blend of input process variables from the solution space at random, which can yield maximum MRR, minimum TWR and better Ra. Validation tests had also been conducted to check the rightness of the investigation. Also it is observed that the BCO results and experimental results have revealed a good agreement with acceptable deviations. So in this research, it has been concluded that the BCO algorithm can be one of the best optimization algorithm, that can be used to detect the better optimal values for the EDM control parameters to attain desired output.