Experimental investigation of the electric discharge machining performance on metal matrix composites

ABSTRACTThe non-traditional machining of the metal matrix composite (MMC) is under the intensive interest of the scientists and the material developers. In this thesis, three different SiC particle reinforced metal matrix composite (Al427915 Al/Cu, AE109 Al and AlMg1SiO,6TiH20,8) and two different materials (ETIAL 20 and 1.2210 115CrV3) were experimentally studied with the die-sinking EDM method. EDM experiments were carried out changing the machining parameters such as pulse duration and discharge current with the constant values in each experiment. The main performance outputs such as tool wear rate (TWR), material removal rate (MRR), relative electrode wear rate (REWR) and relative wear between electrode and tool, were experimentally investigated for the three main input parameters. Mathematical models by using Artificial Neural Networks were derived for TWR, MRR, REWR outputs according to the discharge current, the pulse time and the machining time. The surface formation, the micro structures and the material diffusion depended on the electrical conductivity were studied on a set of materials which are manufactured at the same conditions. The machining parameters that make better the relative wear performance were determined.