Surface Integrity Enhancement of Incoloy 825 During Electric Discharge Machining

Abstract

The aim of the current research work is to enhance the surface integrity of EDMed (electro-discharge machined) Incoloy 825 by suspending graphite powder particles in dielectric during electro-discharge machining (EDM). For this purpose, a specially designed and fabricated re-circulation dielectric tank was integrated with the existing EDM setup. The effect of three process variables, i.e., peak current, pulse-on time, and duty cycle was studied on EDM characteristics such as material removal rate, surface roughness (Ra), radial overcut, surface microhardness, microhardness in sub-surface regions, recast layer, phase changes and residual stress. Results showed that the machining rate increased up to 23% using powder-mixed EDM compared to conventional EDM. Significant reduction in surface roughness, white layer thickness, surface cracks and residual stress was observed while machining with graphite mixed dielectric. The addition of powder resulted in the formation of carbides and other alloy compounds on the machined surface which enhances the microhardness of surface and subsurface region.