Investigation of process parameters for modeling of ceramic composite SiSiC IN dry EDM (DEDM) cutting

The manufacturing industry is currently grappling with issues related to energy dissipation and product quality, both of which significantly impact productivity. In addressing this pertinent concern, this study endeavours to identify the key indicators that contribute a crucial role in machining process. The Dry EDM (DEDM) emerges as a novel technology, wherein environmentally friendly gases serve as an alternative dielectric medium instead of liquid EDM approaches. In conventional EDM process, hydrocarbon oils release toxic emissions while the gases used in Dry EDM process don't produce harmful emissions and hence make the DEDM process sustainable. An investigation has been carried out to observe the influence of different gases like O2, N2 and Air on Siliconized Silicon-Carbide plate (SiSiC) of ø50mm*2 mm under Dry Electrical Discharge Machining. Effect of different tools is also observed using varying shapes of electrodes like plane Cu electrode of ø6 mm diameter with 60 mm length and tubular shape with outer diameter ø6mm and inner diameter ø5.1 mm with a length of 60 mm. The three gases are one by one supplied through a nozzle in the presence of plane Cu electrode to make the holes in SiSiC plate. The same process is executed with tubular Cu electrode. Modified Taguchi Orthogonal Array is applied to analyze the effect of control factors such as gap voltage, discharge current and pulse on-time through a series of experiments. Effect of different shape of tools and different gases is observed for the material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) of specimen. In this paper, a latest DEDM process of swirl assisted flushing is proposed which provides a new technique to solve the problems of low MRR and poor surface integrity. Swirl assisted flushing works on Decay Law and also microscopic investigation justifies its validity. It is concluded by this research that current and Pulse on time are more contributing factors about 53.3 % and 27 % respectively. Furthermore, it is noted that DEDM increases MRR 19.5 % and lowers Ra approximately 2/3 than traditional machining. The MRR of O2 is about 3.1 times more than Air and N2 comes at least position while N2 creates better quality of surface due to formation of an inert nitride layer. Empirical relations are established for SR and MRR using Minitab 18 Software to develop a robust model. Confirmation test is performed to check the validity of developed mathematical model. The Novelty of this research is also extended by introducing a new method SAF. The results are finally evaluated by ANOVA.