A simple approach for robust design of high-speed Electrical-Discharge Machining technology

The paper presents a simple approach for optimizing high-speed electrical-discharge machining (EDM). The approach begins with designing the ideal function of an EDM system coupled with Taguchi methods for process optimization. It has been proposed that the ideal function has x linear relationship between the input signal (intended dimension) and the output response (product dimension). This model seeks to develop a robust machining process enabling high precision and accuracy of machining a product. In this study, a two-step optimization strategy has been applied. The first step is to reduce the functional variability of the EDM system to enhance process robustness. The second step is to increase the machining accuracy by adjusting the slope of the best-fit line between the input signals and the output responses. Experimental results have shown that the use of the proposed model is simple, effective, and efficient in the development of robust and high-quality EDM machining processes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.