Investigating the pulse short electric arc milling of Ti6Al4V alloy

Abstract

In this study, characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy are studied by pulse short electric arc milling (SEAM). In this regard, the in uence of SEAM parameters on the material removal rate (MRR), relative electrode wear rate (REWR) and surface integrity of Ti6Al4V is studied. A wide variety of processing parameters, including different voltages, frequencies, duty cycles, ushing pressures, electrode rotation speeds and electrode feed rates are considered in the investigation. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrograph (EDS) and micro-hardness analysis are applied to analyze results. Moreover, a multichannel data acquisition system is used to measure gap voltage and gap current. Obtained results cover the variation of MRR, REWR, surface roughness (Ra), average re-solidi ed layer thickness and average heat-affected zone thickness with different processing parameters. Furthermore, the electrode surface morphology and chemical composition of the negative growth of REWR are studied. Based on the obtained results, the microstructure of the re-solidi ed layer and heat-affected zone of the workpiece cross-section is con rmed. This study provides a technological basis for the high-quality pulse SEAM technology of di cult-to-machine (DTM) materials to enter the semi-nishing eld.