Machining characteristics of Al2O3/6061Al composite using rotary EDM with a disklike electrode

This work optimizes the cutting of Al2O3/6061A1 composite using rotary electro-discharging machining (EDM) with a disklike electrode by using Taguchi methodology. The Taguchi method is used to formulate the experimental layout, to analyse the effect of each EDM parameter on the machining characteristics, and to predict the optimal choice for each EDM parameter. Four observed values, MRR, EWR, REWR, and SR, are used to verify this optimisation of the machining technique. In addition, six independent parameters are chosen as variable in evaluating the Taguchi method and are categorised into two groups: 1. Electrical parameters, e.g. polarity, peak current, pulse duration, and powder supply voltage. 2. Non-electrical parameters, e.g. circumferential speed of electrode, reciprocating speed. The analysis of the Taguchi method reveals that, in general, the electrical group more significantly affects the machining characteristics than the non-electrical group. Also derived herein are semi-empirical equation that contain all of the machining characteristics. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the proposed approach.