Experimental Investigation of Surface Roughness and Material Removal Rate in Wire EDM of Stainless Steel 304

Abstract

Its unexcelled mechanical and physical properties, in addition to its biocompatibility, have made stainless steel 304 a prime candidate for a wide range of applications. Among different manufacturing techniques, electrical discharge machining (EDM) has shown high potential in processing stainless steel 304 in a controllable manner. This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation into the effect of the process parameters on the obtainable surface roughness and material removal rate of stainless steel 304, when slotted using wire EDM. A full factorial design of the experiment was followed when conducting experimental trials in which the effects of the different levels of the five process parameters; applied voltage, traverse feed, pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and current intensity were investigated. The geometry of the cut slots was characterized using the MATLAB image processing toolbox to detect the edge and precise width of the cut slot along its entire length to determine the material removal rate. In addition, the surface roughness of the side walls of the slots were characterized, and the roughness average was evaluated for the range of the process parameters being examined. The effect of the five process parameters on both responses were studied, and the results revealed that the material removal rate is significantly influenced by feed (p-value = 9.72 × 10−29), followed by current tension (p-value = 6.02 × 10−7), and voltage (p-value = 3.77 × 10−5), while the most significant parameters affecting the surface roughness are current tension (p-value = 1.89 × 10−7), followed by pulse-on time (1.602 × 10−5), and pulse-off time (0.0204). The developed regression models and associated prediction plots offer a reliable tool to predict the effect of the process parameters, and thus enable the optimizing of their effects on both responses; surface roughness and material removal rate. The results also reveal the trade-off between the effect of significant process parameters on the material removal rate and surface roughness. This points out the need for a robust multi-objective optimization technique to identify the process window for obtaining high quality surfaces while keeping the material removal rate as high as possible.

Wire Electrical Discharge Machining of AISI304 and AISI316 Alloys: A Comparative Assessment of Machining Responses, Empirical Modeling and Multi-Objective Optimization

“…As formerly mentioned, this is a significant extension of the work reported by Naeim et al in [10], in which the MRR and obtainable surface roughness in the WEDM of AISI 304 were analyzed. Herein, AISI 316 samples are machined under similar cutting conditions to those reported in [10] with the aim of comparatively assessing the machining responses of both materials under similar conditions. In addition, statistical analyses of the experimental results for both materials are carried out and discussed.…”

“…The selected running conditions for the WEDM, as reported in [10], are voltage (V) in V, transverse feed ( f ) in mm/min, pulse-off time (P o f f ) in µs, pulse-on time (P on ) in µs and current intensity (C) in A. Each parameter has certain levels, from 2 to 3 levels, as shown in Table 3.…”

“…Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is one of the key thermoelectric processes of cutting materials, irrespective of their high hardness and strength properties [5,6], such as high-carbon steels [7,8], stainless steel 316 (AISI 316) [9], etc. In WEDM, the cutting process is carried out by means of eroding the workpiece (as a cathode) with a travelling thin wire tensioned between two guide rollers (as an anode) by initiating a series of sparks between the electrodes in the presence of a dielectric medium [10,11]. One of the advantages of WEDM is to process difficult-to-cut materials, irrespective of their hardness, with acceptable surface properties and accurate dimensions, which promotes WEDM as a prime cutting method to produce punch dies and molds of high-strength materials [1,8,10].…”

Optimization of Sustainable Production Processes in C45 Steel Machining Using a Confocal Chromatic Sensor

“…The authors of [39] observe the deterioration of machined surfaces in Ti6Al4V alloys due to thermal softening using the HSM method. Similarly, results from [40] indicate a trade-off relationship between significant process factors' influence on material removal rate and surface roughness. Regarding EDM technology, Ref.…”

Comprehensive review on wire electrical discharge machining: a non-traditional material removal process

“…An enormous amount of energy is expended in mechanicalbased chip removal operations to remove undesired chips that must be disposed (Jebarose Juliyana and Udaya Prakash, 2022). However, the substantial amount of cutting energy results in undesirable heat, which may result in issues with SR, surface cracking, and deformation (Naeim et al, 2023). Additionally, residual tensions and burrs may be created throughout the process of machining, which would primarily call for additional post-processing operations (Malakizadi et al, 2022).…”