Multi-objective optimization of edge quality and surface integrity when wire electrical discharge machining of polycrystalline diamonds in cutting tool manufacture

This work presents an energy-saving approach to the single-pass wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) of polycrystalline diamond with no degradation in edge geometry or surface integrity in cutting tool manufacture. The proposed boundary conditions and discharging wavelets enable the least number of pulse-off durations to effectively recover the electrical potential for the extended discharging action and the successively energy saving via a secondary MOSFET circuit. Secondly, the determined pulse-off durations could sufficiently improve the effectiveness of the Joule heat model which did not consider the extrinsic interference from the removed materials in the discharging gap. Full factorial design experiments were performed to validate the effects of the operating parameters on the material removal rate, surface roughness, cutting edge radius, and surface waviness in single-pass WEDM for the shaping of diamond cutting tools. Precision levels in the fitting of analytic models to experiment results were presented. Linear algebra was introduced to evaluate the selection of operating parameter combinations aimed at optimizing of observations with adjustable weightings. Thermal induced defects and alterations in the microstructures were reported and discussed. The proposed ready-to-use diamond cutting tools present a good balance between energy savings and appreciable outcomes.