Evaluating Surface Quality of Inconel 617 by Employing Deep Cryogenically Treated Electrodes in Surfactant-Added Dielectrics of Transformer Oil

Abstract

Over the past few decades, better surface quality has remained of great interest to researchers. It deteriorates the fatigue life of the workpiece. The criticality arises when a material of greater strength is selected to work in high-temperature areas such as nickel (Ni)-based superalloys, categorically Inconel 617. Conventional machining operations are not the best choice for the machining of this alloy because of its low density and greater strength. Therefore, electric discharge machining (EDM) is generally engaged. Still, there is a great necessity to make a more reliable surface using EDM, which performs better even in harsh working areas. Therefore, this study examined the potential of deep-cryogenically treated electrodes under the modified dielectrics of transformer oil in the said context, which has not been discussed so far. A set of 30 experiments was performed, designed using the full factorial technique. Deep-cryogenically treated electrodes provided better surface quality in comparison to the non-treated electrodes. Amongst the deep-cryogenically treated electrodes, brass performed outstandingly and provided the lowest value of surface roughness (SR), 6.65 µm, in the modified dielectric of transformer oil with Span 80. The surface finish of deep-cryogenically treated brass is 28.72% better compared to the average value of the overall deep-cryogenically treated electrodes. The lowest value of SR (8.35 µm) was gained by engaging a non-cryogenically treated Cu electrode with a T-20–transformer oil-modified dielectric. The said value of SR is 17.7% better than the highest value of SR achieved in the case of S-80–transformer oil with a non-cryogenically treated Cu electrode.

Recent Trends and Developments in the Electrical Discharge Machining Industry: A Review

“…However, the removal processes of both the workpiece and the electrode depend on the specific materials and its work function. Furthermore, external factors like hardening or cryogenic treatment play a significant role [26,60,97,98].…”

“…Crack formation/surface integrity was also studied by the researcher [132]. A fairly large percentage of research is devoted to the analysis of EDM processing of workpieces made of nickel-chromium [98,133,134] and aluminum alloys [80,120,124].…”

“…However, the prevailing number of studies related to ET is aimed at reducing their wear or compensating for modification. It is possible to single out the main directions of modification: selection of new nontraditional materials [17,103,137,138], processing or coating [17,97,98,[139][140][141], creation of non-traditional geometric shapes [49,137,[142][143][144], using modern methods of additive manufacturing [145][146][147][148], creation of original structures [146,148], etc.…”

“…To compensate for wear, diamond [17], composite [139], and highly heat-resistant steel [140] coatings or cryogenic treatment is used [17,97,98]. Improvement in flushing and processing accuracy was achieved by creating a stepped geometry of the electrode-tool, but this led to a high roughness [49,50].…”

Investigating Technological Parameters and TiN-Coated Electrodes for Enhanced Efficiency in Ti-6Al-4V Micro-EDM Machining

“…This innovation has garnered attention for its potential to revolutionize micro-EDM processes [8]. However, selecting optimal technological parameters, especially concerning various electrode coating materials, remains a complex challenge [9]. This task is further complicated by the distinctive electrical, thermal, and physicochemical properties of coating materials influenced by specific workpiece materials [10,11].…”