Feasibility investigation of neem oil as a dielectric for electrical discharge machining

This article has been addressed various sustainability aspects of EDM and introduced transesterified neem as a green dielectric. Here, the machining is performed at 4-16 A of current, 50-250 mu s of pulse on time, 10-50 mu s of pulse off time, and 20-50 V of gap voltage using both the kerosene and neem as a dielectric medium. The comparative assessment of the obtained responses claims that the neem dielectric exhibits 22% more removal rate and 17% less surface roughness than kerosene. Apart from these, the impact of each dielectric on the texture of processed surfaces has been assessed with the help of the microscopic images captured with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Finally, the sustainability evaluation is performed to check the feasibility of the neem oil as a reliable dielectric of EDM. It is observed that the neem dielectric is capable of ensuring comparatively fine surface textures due to the repeated overlapping of the radially extended craters and consumes less time to attain the targeted removal depth (RD). Therefore, based on the results, the neem dielectric can be recommended as a potent and reliable alternative of conventional kerosene.