Electro Discharge Machining of Titanium Nitride-Aluminium Oxide Composite for Optimum Process Criterial Yield

Titanium nitride-aluminium oxide (TiN-Al2O3) is a new generation ceramic composite material having potential for many industrial applications as it possesses high resistance to thermal degradation, anti-wear and anti-abrasion properties. But conventional machining of such ceramic composite is difficult to perform for some of its peculiar properties like anisotropy, low thermal conductivity, and abrasive nature of the reinforcing phases. In the present investigation, non-conventional machining like electro discharge machining (EDM) has been carried out to machine the material. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis have also been carried out on the composite matrix to verify the presence of two distinguishable phases of TiN and Al2O3. The present article reports the effects of EDM process parameters on material removal rate, electrode wear rate, radial overcut, and taper angle while machining TiN-Al2O3 composite. The characteristic features of the EDM process are explored through Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design-based experimental studies with various process parametric combinations. Finally, optimum parameter settings for each response factor are obtained and tested through verification experiments. The whole experimental study indicates that EDM has a very good potential in machining of TiN-Al2O3 ceramic composite in some particular ranges of process parameters.