Study of the effect of process variables on output response in electro chemical discharge drilling of borosilicate glass

Abstract

Electro Chemical Discharge Drilling (ECDD) process is a latest erosion based hybrid machining process which merges the notion of drilling electro-chemical machining (D-ECM) and drilling electro-discharge machining process (D-EDM). The ability of ECDD process is apposite for drilling the electrically non-conductive materials using a rotating tool electrode. Present article is focused on the development of tabletop ECDD setup based on various indigenous subparts like power arrangement, electrolyte feeding, workpiece feeding and machining compartment system. After assembling and testing of each subparts of ECDD, the exhaustive experiments were carried out on borosilicate glass workpiece fruitfully and examined the effect of process variables namely applied voltage, inter electrode gap, electrolyte concentration, speed of rotating electrode on output response like MRR. Moreover, it was examined that material removal rate (MRR) increases with rise in applied voltage and decreases with enhance of interelectrode gap as well as speed of rotating electrode. It is also seemed that MRR increases with varying the electrolyte concentration but beyond certain value it decreases. Micro graph study of machined workpiece material has also been scrutinized using scanning electron microscope (SEM).