Optimization of process parameters of electrical discharge machining of fabricated AA6082 – ALN

Abstract

The non-conventional machining methods are used for machining very hard materials and for making difficult shapes. Electrical discharge machining (EDM) process is one of the most commonly used nonconventional machining processes for machining hard, brittle materials like composites. It is commonly used in die making industries for developing complex profiles in dies related to sheet metal work etc., It is commonly used for machining metal matrix composites which are very hard materials. Aluminium based metal matrix composites are widely used in aeronautical and defence parts because of their advanced properties like high strength to weight ratio, etc. At first the material was fabricated using stir casting set up which was the part of research work. The work piece material selected in this study was Aluminium alloy 6082 and 10% Aluminium nitrite based metal matrix composite which was fabricated by stir casting process with the help of newly developed stir casting set up. After fabrication, the characterization of samples was done using SEM and mechanical. The EDM process was selected for machining composite samples with input parameters like gap current (A), pulse on time (μs) and duty factor. In this machining process the output response was material removal rate. The optimization of process parameters was done using Taguchi method with the help of ANOVA test and S/N ratio. Analysis of variance was performed to find the significance of machining parameters in this experimental work.