An Investigation To Achieve a Good Surface Integrity in WEDM of Ti-6242 Super Alloy

Abstract

Ti-6242 is a super alloy which exhibits the best creep resistance among available titanium alloys and is widely used in the manufacture by WEDM of aircraft engine turbomachinery components. However, the final quality of wire EDMed surface is a great challenge as it is affected by various factors that need optimization for surface integrity and machine efficiency improvement. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a set of cutting process parameters such as pulse on time (Ton), servo voltage (U), feed rate (S) and flushing pressure (p) on surface roughness (SR) when machining Ti-6242 super alloy by WEDM process using a brass tool electrode and deionized water as a dielectric fluid. WEDM experiments were conducted, and SR (Ra) measurement was carried out using a 3D optical surface roughness-meter (3D–SurfaScan). As a tool to optimize cutting parameters for SR improvement, Taguchi's signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) approach was applied using L9 (3^4) orthogonal array and Lower-The-Better (LTB) criteria. Substantially, the findings from current investigation suggest the application of the values 0.9 µs, 100V, 29 mm/min, and 60 bar for Ton, U, S and p cutting parameters, respectively, for producing a good surface finish quality. Percent contributions of the machining parameters on SR (Ra) assessed based on ANOVA analysis are 62.94%, 20.84%, 11.46% and 4.74% for U, S, Ton and p, respectively. Subsequently, accurate predictive model for SR (Ra) is established based on response surface analysis (RSA). The contour plots for SR (Ra) indicate that when flushing pressure p converges to a critical value (80 bar), a poor-quality surface finish is highly expected with the excessive increase in U and S. Electron microscope scanning (SEM) observations have been performed on machined surface for a wide range of cutting parameters to characterize wire EDMed surface of Ti-6242. SEM micrographs indicate that the machined surface acquires a foamy structure and shows white layer and machining-induced damage that the characteristics are highly dependent on cutting parameters. At high servo-voltage, the decrease in pulse on time Ton and feed rate S results in a large decrease in overall machining-induced surface damage. Moreover, for high servo-voltage and feed rate levels, it has been observed that pulse on time could play a role of controlling the surface microcracks density. In fact, the use of a low pulse duration of cut combined with high servo-voltage and feed rate has been shown to inhibit surface microcracks formation giving the material surface a better resistance to cracking than at high pulse duration.