Analysis and Optimization of Process Parameters in Wire Electrical Discharge Machining Based on RSM: A Case Study

In this book chapter a review and critical analysis on current research trends in wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) and relation between different process parameters including pulse on time, pulse off time, servo voltage, peak current, dielectric flow rate, wire speed, wire tension on different process responses include material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (Ra), sparking gap, wire lag and wire wear ration (WWR) and surface integrity factors was investigated. On the basis of critical evaluation of the available literature following conclusions are summarized. In addition, different modeling and optimization methods used in WEDM were discussed and a case study based on response surface method (RSM) including design of experiment (DoE) carried out to find optimal process parameters effect on surface roughness was conducted. In the final part of the present study was presented some recommendations about the trends for future WEDM researches

Artificial intelligence–built analysis framework for the manufacturing sector: performance optimization of wire electric discharge machining system

In the era of industry 4.0, digitalization and smart operation of industrial systems contribute to higher productivity, improved quality, and efficient resource utilization for industrial operations and processes. However, artificial intelligence (AI)–based modelling and optimization analysis following a generic analysis framework is lacking in literature for the manufacturing sector thereby impeding the inclusion of AI for its potential application's domain. Herein, a comprehensive and generic analysis framework is presented depicting the key stages involved for carrying out the AI-based modelling and optimization analysis for the manufacturing system. The suggested AI framework is put into practice on wire electric discharge machining (WEDM) system, and the cutting speed of WEDM is adjusted for the stainless cladding steel material. Artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), and extreme learning machine (ELM) are three AI modelling techniques that are trained with meticulous hyperparameter tuning. A better-performing model is chosen once the trained AI models have undergone the external validation test to investigate their prediction performance. The sensitivity analysis on the developed AI model is performed and it is found that pulse on time (Pon) is the noteworthy factor affecting the cutting speed of WEDM having the percentage significance value of 26.6 followed by the Dw and LTSS, with the percentage significance value of 17.3 and 16.7 respectively. The parametric optimization incorporating the AI model is conducted and the results pertain to the cutting speed are 27.3% higher than the maximum value of cutting speed achieved for WEDM. The cutting speed performance optimization is realized following the proposed AI-based analysis framework that can be applied, in general, to other manufacturing systems therefore unlocking the potential of AI to contribute to industry 4.0 for the smart operation of manufacturing systems

EDM PROCESS PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION FOR EFFICIENT MACHINING OF INCONEL-718

In the present work, multi-response optimization of electro-discharge machining (EDM) process is carried out based on an experimental analysis of machining superalloy Inconel-718. The study aims at optimizing and determining an optimal set of process variables, namely discharge current (), pulse-on duration () and dielectric fluid-pressure () for achieving optimal machining performance in EDM. Nine independent experiments based on L9 orthogonal array are carried out by using tungsten as the electrode. The productivity performance of the EDM process is measured in terms of material removal rate (MRR) and its cost parameter is measured in terms of tool wear rate (TWR) and electrode wear rate (EWR). The TOPSIS is used in conjunction with five different criterion weight allocation strategies— (namely, mean weight (MW), standard deviation (SDV), entropy, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Fuzzy). While MW, SDV and entropy are based on the objective evaluation of the decision-maker (DM), the AHP can model the DM’s subjective evaluation. On the other hand, the uncertainty in the DM’s evaluation is analyzed by using the fuzzy weighing approach

Parametric Optimization of Taper Cutting Process using Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM)

Significant technological advancement of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process has been observed in recent times in order to meet the requirements of various manufacturing fields especially in the production of parts with complex geometry in precision die industry. Taper cutting is an important application of WEDM process aiming at generating complex parts with tapered profiles. Wire deformation and breakage are more pronounced in taper cutting as compared with straight cutting resulting in adverse effect on desired taper angle and surface integrity. The reasons for associated problems may be attributed to certain stiffness of the wire. However, controlling the process parameters can somewhat reduce these problems. Extensive literature review reveals that effect of process parameters on various performance measures in taper cutting using WEDM is also not adequately addressed. Hence, study on effect of process parameters on performance measures using various advanced metals and metal matrix composites (MMC) has become the predominant research area in this field. In this context, the present work attempts to experimentally investigate the machining performance of various alloys, super alloys and metal matrix composite during taper cutting using WEDM process. The effect of process parameters such as part thickness, taper angle, pulse duration, discharge current, wire speed and wire tension on various performance measures such as angular error, surface roughness, cutting rate and white layer thickness are studied using Taguchi’s analysis. The functional relationship between the input parameters and performance measures has been developed by using non-linear regression analysis. Simultaneous optimization of the performance measures has been carried out using latest nature inspired algorithms such as multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) and bat algorithm. Although MOPSO develops a set of non-dominated solutions, the best ranked solution is identified from a large number of solutions through application of maximum deviation method rather than resorting to human judgement. Deep cryogenic treatment of both wire and work material has been carried out to enhance the machining efficiency of the low conductive work material like Inconel 718. Finally, artificial intelligent models are proposed to predict the various performance measures prior to machining. The study offers useful insight into controlling the parameters to improve the machining efficiency

Parametric Optimization of Taper Cutting Process using Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM)

Significant technological advancement of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process has been observed in recent times in order to meet the requirements of various manufacturing fields especially in the production of parts with complex geometry in precision die industry. Taper cutting is an important application of WEDM process aiming at generating complex parts with tapered profiles. Wire deformation and breakage are more pronounced in taper cutting as compared with straight cutting resulting in adverse effect on desired taper angle and surface integrity. The reasons for associated problems may be attributed to certain stiffness of the wire. However, controlling the process parameters can somewhat reduce these problems. Extensive literature review reveals that effect of process parameters on various performance measures in taper cutting using WEDM is also not adequately addressed. Hence, study on effect of process parameters on performance measures using various advanced metals and metal matrix composites (MMC) has become the predominant research area in this field. In this context, the present work attempts to experimentally investigate the machining performance of various alloys, super alloys and metal matrix composite during taper cutting using WEDM process. The effect of process parameters such as part thickness, taper angle, pulse duration, discharge current, wire speed and wire tension on various performance measures such as angular error, surface roughness, cutting rate and white layer thickness are studied using Taguchi’s analysis. The functional relationship between the input parameters and performance measures has been developed by using non-linear regression analysis. Simultaneous optimization of the performance measures has been carried out using latest nature inspired algorithms such as multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) and bat algorithm. Although MOPSO develops a set of non-dominated solutions, the best ranked solution is identified from a large number of solutions through application of maximum deviation method rather than resorting to human judgement. Deep cryogenic treatment of both wire and work material has been carried out to enhance the machining efficiency of the low conductive work material like Inconel 718. Finally, artificial intelligent models are proposed to predict the various performance measures prior to machining. The study offers useful insight into controlling the parameters to improve the machining efficiency

Estimation of optimal machining control parameters using artificial bee colony

Modern machining processes such as abrasive waterjet (AWJ) are widely used in manufacturing industries nowadays. Optimizing the machining control parameters are essential in order to provide a better quality and economics machining. It was reported by previous researches that artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm has less computation time requirement and offered optimal solution due to its excellent global and local search capability compared to the other optimization soft computing techniques. This research employed ABC algorithm to optimize the machining control parameters that lead to a minimum surface roughness (Ra) value for AWJ machining. Five machining control parameters that are optimized using ABC algorithm include traverse speed (V), waterjet pressure (P), standoff distance (h), abrasive grit size (d) and abrasive flow rate (m). From the experimental results, the performance of ABC was much superior where the estimated minimum Ra value was 28, 42, 45, 2 and 0.9 % lower compared to actual machining, regression, artificial neural network (ANN), genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) respectively

Investigations on Machining Aspects of Inconel 718 During Wire Electro-Discharge Machining (WEDM): Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Wire electro- discharge machining (WEDM) is known as unique cutting in manufacturing industries, especially in the good tolerance with intricate shape geometry in die industry. In this study the workpiece has been chosen as Inconel 718. Inconel 718 super alloy is widely used in aerospace industries. This nickel based super alloy has excellent resistance to high temperature, mechanical and chemical degradations with toughness and work hardening characteristics materials. Due to these properties, the machinability studies of this material have been carried-out in this study. The machining of Inconel 718 using variation of wire electrode material (brass wire electrode and zinc coated brass wire) with diameter equal to 0.20mm has been carried out. The objective of this study is mainly to investigate the various WEDM process parameters and performance of wire electrodes materials on Inconel 718 with various types of cutting. The optimal process parameter setting for each of wire electrode material has been obtained for multi-objective response. The kerf width, Material Removal Rate (MRR) and surface finish, corner error, corner deviation and angular error are the responses which are function of process variables viz. pulse-on time, discharge current, wire speed, flushing pressure and taper angle. The non-linear regression analysis has been developed for relationship between the process parameter and process characteristics. The optimal parameters setting have been carried out using multi-objective nature-inspired meta-heuristic optimization algorithm such as Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) and Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO). Lastly numerical model analysis has been carried out to determine MRR and residual stress using ANSYS software and MRR model validated with the experimental results. The overlapping approach has been adopted for solving the multi-spark problem and validate with the experimental results

Applications of optimization techniques for parametric analysis of non-traditional machining processes: A Review

The constrained applications of conventional machining processes in generating complex shape ge-ometries with the desired degree of tolerance and surface finish in various advanced engineering materials are being gradually compensated by the non-traditional machining (NTM) processes. These NTM processes usually have higher procurement, maintenance, operating and tooling cost. Hence, in order to attain their maximum machining performance, they are usually operated at their optimal or near optimal parametric settings which can easily be determined by the application of dif-ferent optimization techniques. In this paper, 133 international research papers published during 2012-16 on parametric optimization of NTM processes are extensively reviewed to have an idea on the selected process parameters, observed responses, work materials machined and optimization techniques employed in those processes while generating varying part geometries for their industrial use. It is observed that electro discharge machining is the mostly employed NTM process, applied voltage is the identified process parameter with maximum importance, surface roughness and material removal rate are the two maximally preferred responses, different steel grades are the mostly machined work materials and grey relational analysis is the most popular tool utilized for para-metric optimization of NTM processes. These observations would help the process engineers to attain the machining performance of the NTM processes at their fullest extents for different work material and shape feature combinations

Modeling of micro tool fabrication process using wire electro discharge grinding

Ankara : The Department of Industrial Engineering and the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2013.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2013.Includes bibliographical references leaves 73-78.Fabrication of micro tools made from tungsten carbide and polycrystalline diamond is a difficult and time consuming process. Quality of the tool directly affects the dimensional integrity of the fabricated micro products. In this thesis, fabrication of micro end mills using wire electro discharge grinding (WEDG) process, a variation of electro discharge machining process, is considered. The advantage of this process is that very small micro tools (less than 0.1 mm diameter) can be produced by eroding the tool material through electrical discharges. It is preffered over traditonal grinding process since no forces are transmitted to the tool body during fabrication. However, it takes a very long time to fabricate micro tools with this method. Therefore, it is important to understand the influence of process parameters on material erosion rate in order to be able to model the process. In this study, the relationship between process input parameters and process outputs (material erosion rate and surface roughness) is investigated using experiments. A parametric formulation which allows the estimation of tool fabrication time as a function of WEDG process parameters and given tool geometry has been developed. The developed model can be used in tool geometry design optimization studies.Ergür, Ali CanM.S

An intelligent approach for multi-response optimization: a case study of non-traditional machining process

The present work proposes an intelligent approach to solve multi-response optimization problem in electrical discharge machining of AISI D2 using response surface methodology (RSM) combined with optimization techniques. Four process parameters (factors) such as discharge current (Ip), pulse-on-time (Ton), duty factor (τ) and flushing pressure (Fp) and four important responses like material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), surface roughness (Ra) and circularity (r1/r2) of machined component are considered in this study. A Box-Behnken RSM design is used to collect experimental data and develop empirical models relating input parameters and responses. Genetic algorithm (GA), an efficient search technique, is used to obtain the optimal setting for desired responses. It is to be noted that there is no single optimal setting which will produce best performance satisfying all the responses. In industries, to solve such problems, managers frequently depend on their past experience and judgement. Human intervention causes uncertainties present in the decision making process gleaned into solution methodology resulting in inferior solutions. Fuzzy inference system has been a viable option to address multiple response problems considering uncertainties and impreciseness caused during judgement process and experimental data collection. However, choosing right kind of membership functions and development of fuzzy rule base happen to be cumbersome job for the managers. To address this issue, a methodology based on combined neuro-fuzzy system and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is adopted to optimize multiple responses simultaneously. To avoid the conflicting nature of responses, they are first converted to signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and then normalized. The proposed neuro-fuzzy approach is used to convert the responses into a single equivalent response known as Multi-response Performance Characteristic Index (MPCI). The effect of parameters on MPCI values has been studied in detail and a process model has been developed. Finally, optimal parameter setting is obtained by particle swarm optimization technique. The optimal setting so generated that satisfy all the responses may not be the best one due to aggregation of responses into a single response during neuro-fuzzy stage. In this direction, a multi-objective optimization based on non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA) has been adopted to optimize the responses such that a set of mutually dominant solutions are found over a wide range of machining parameters. The proposed optimal settings are validated using thermal-modeling of finite element analysis