Performance analysis of electrode materials in electro discharge machining of monel K-500

Abstract

The present work focusses on the electrical discharge machining (EDM) of Monel K 500 super alloy with different electrodes. The study’s objective is to examine the effects of process parameters and electrode materials (Cu, W-Cu, and graphite) in terms of surface quality, material removal rateand electrode wear. In this context, EDM experiments have been designed and performed using the L27 standard orthogonal array of the Taguchi method with a statistical approach. The outcomes of this study reveal that the current plays an important role to improve the EDM machining performance of Monel K 500. The surface quality is approximately 11.62% and 55.52%, respectively better when Monel K-500 alloy is machined with copper electrodes compared to those in W-Cu and graphite electrodes. Moreover, The W-Cu electrode’s wear is approximately 15.73% and 21.05%, respectively less than those of graphite and Cu electrodes in optimum processing conditions. Graphite electrodes are better than Cu and W-Cu electrodes in terms of material removal rate. The statistical results also show that the estimation equations developed to select the optimum production conditions to give high accuracy results.