Numerical simulation of multi-spark electric discharge machining analysis for Ti6Al4V alloy drilling

In this paper a thermal model has been developed for numerically analyzing the multi spark EDM drilling mechanism using finite element methods. The sequential multi electric sparks for drilling process provides heat flux for simulation model. The thermal model also envelopes realistic considerations like effective latent heat of melting, Gaussian heat distribution of heat source, spark radius equation encompassing discharge current and pulse on time, etc for predicting the rate of metal removal and shape of the drilled hole cavity. This developed model has been used to determine the effect of parameters used as input for EDM process like discharge current, voltage, pulse duration and duty cycle on MRR and crater cavity. The impact of discharge energy on MRR is studied and behaviors of crater depth on variance in input operation parameters are examined. The results obtained could be used to carry out experiments and develop an empirical model which could predict results for operation output parameters like MRR, TWR and surface roughness in advance. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.