Optimization of WEDM Parameters While Machining Biomedical Materials Using EDAS-PSO

In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the influence of process parameters of the wire electric discharge machining (WEDM) process on the machining characteristics. The commercially pure titanium is machined by WEDM using brass wire as an electrode. The input parameters in this work were pulse on-time (A(on)), pulse off-time (A(off)), servo voltage (SV) and wire tension (WT). On the other hand, dimensional accuracy (DA), average surface roughness (R-a) and maximum surface roughness (R-z) were chosen as the response parameters. The empirical relations developed for response characteristics were solved collectively using Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The optimized setting for minimizing the surface irregularities while machining titanium alloy on WEDM is predicted as A(on): 8 mu s; A(off): 13 mu s; SV: 45 V; and WT: 8 N. Moreover, the predicted solution at the optimized parametric settings came out as DA: 95%; Ra: 3.163 mu m; Rz: 22.99 mu m; WL: 0.0182 g; and DR: 0.1277 mm. The validation experiments at the optimized setting showed the close agreement between predicted and experimental values. The morphological study by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at the optimized setting revealed a significant reduction in surface defects such as micro cracks, micro cavities, globules and sub-surfaces, etc. In a nutshell, the study justified the effectiveness of EDAS-PSO in efficiently predicting the results for machining of pure titanium (Grade 2) using the WEDM process.