Investigating surface properties of cryogenically treated titanium alloys in powder mixed electric discharge machining

Although electrical discharge machining is a metal removal process in form of debris, efforts have been made in this article to make use of this process as a surface treatment method. Effect of different process parameters and mechanism of material deposition also studied under this study. Powder mixed electric discharge machining (PMEDM) process has been used which helps in improving the surface properties. In this study, changes in surface properties of cryogenically treated titanium alloy after PMEDM process were investigated. Experimental results showed significant improvement in micro-hardness by 94.85 %. Various studies, like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were carried out to study the characteristics of the machined surface. After scanning the machined surface through XRD and EDX, the transfer of various elements from electrode material and powder mixed dielectric and their chemical compounds were observed. After screening the results, peak current was observed as the highly influential parameter that affected the micro-hardness as well as surface quality of the machined surface.