Some Studies into Electrical Discharge Machining of Nimonic75 Super Alloy Using Rotary Copper Disk Electrode

The present study reports the rotary disk electrical discharge machining of Nimonic75 super alloy, extensively used in aerospace industries. The experiments have been performed using Taguchi’s orthogonal array L18 (21 × 35) with copper disk electrode. The control factors considered were, viz., peak current, pulse on time, pulse off-time, gap voltage, and rotational speed of disk electrode with three levels each, and aspect ratio (AR) of the disk electrode having two levels, as noise factor. The novel approach of this article is to study the effect of the AR of the disk electrode on the performance measures, viz., material removal rate, disk electrode wear rate, and surface roughness. The results based on Taguchi’s analysis show that among the considered process parameters, the AR and peak current significantly affect the machining characteristics. Furthermore, the rotating disk electrode easily flushes off the debris, resulting in better machining and reducing the chances of re-solidified layer formation.