Article: Near-dry electrical discharge machining of stainless steel Journal: International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials (IJMMM) 2015 Vol.17 No.2 pp.127 - 138 Abstract: Near-dry electrical discharge machining (NDEDM) has characteristics of high material removal rate (MRR) and low tool wear rate (TWR). NDEDM uses the mixture of air and water as a two-phase dielectric fluid, so it does not produce toxic fumes like conventional EDM which uses hydrocarbon-based oils as the dielectric fluid. Realising all these advantages of NDEDM, it was selected to machine stainless steel. The effect of pulse current (IP), pulse-on time (Ton) and lift setting on NDEDM of stainless steel was investigated. Taguchi's technique was applied to obtain an optimal setting of the process parameters. 'The higher the better' approach was used for MRR as higher MRR is desired. The measured results and subsequent analysis revealed that IP was the only significant parameter. MRR increases with an increase in IP. Also, TWR was found to be negligible in comparison of MRR. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Near-dry electrical discharge machining of stainless steel

Authors: Krishnakant Dhakar; Harsh Pundir; Akshay Dvivedi; Pradeep Kumar

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India

Abstract: Near-dry electrical discharge machining (NDEDM) has characteristics of high material removal rate (MRR) and low tool wear rate (TWR). NDEDM uses the mixture of air and water as a two-phase dielectric fluid, so it does not produce toxic fumes like conventional EDM which uses hydrocarbon-based oils as the dielectric fluid. Realising all these advantages of NDEDM, it was selected to machine stainless steel. The effect of pulse current (I_P), pulse-on time (T_on) and lift setting on NDEDM of stainless steel was investigated. Taguchi's technique was applied to obtain an optimal setting of the process parameters. 'The higher the better' approach was used for MRR as higher MRR is desired. The measured results and subsequent analysis revealed that I_P was the only significant parameter. MRR increases with an increase in I_P. Also, TWR was found to be negligible in comparison of MRR.

Keywords: near-dry EDM; electrical discharge machining; NDEDM; conventional EDM; Taguchi methods; stainless steel; material removal rate; MRR; analysis of variance; ANOVA; electro-discharge machining; near-dry machining; tool wear rate; TWR; pulse current; pulse-on time; lift setting; air-water dielectric fluids.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2015.070917

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2015 Vol.17 No.2, pp.127 - 138

Received: 15 Jun 2014
Accepted: 19 Jan 2015
Published online: 31 Jul 2015 *

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Title: Near-dry electrical discharge machining of stainless steel

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