Analysis of the influence of EDM parameters on surface finish, material removal rate, and electrode wear of an INCONEL 600 alloy

Nickel-based alloys are attractive materials for industrial applications owing to their good mechanical properties and excellent resistance to corrosion and oxidation, even under extreme conditions. In this paper, the behavior of an INCONEL 600 alloy has been studied using electrical discharge machining (EDM). The response parameters selected are the material removal rate (MRR), the electrode wear (EW), and the surface roughness (SR). All of them have been studied in terms of current intensity supplied by the generator (I), duty cycle (eta), pulse time (t (i) ), and polarity. To carry out the experiments, design of experiment (DOE) techniques have been used in order to obtain mathematical models to predict the most influential factors by using a small number of experiments. The experimental results confirm that positive polarity leads to higher MRR whereas negative polarity leads to lower Ra values.