Grit Blasting for Removal of Recast Layer from EDM Process on Inconel 718 Shaft : An Evaluation of Surface Integrity

The heat generated during EDM melts the work material and thereby allows large amounts to be removed, but an unfavorable surface of a recast layer (RCL) will also be created. This layer has entirely different properties compared to the bulk. Hence, it is of great interest to efficiently remove this layer and to verify that it has been removed. The main objective of this work has been to study the efficiency of grit blasting for removal of RCL on an EDM aero space shaft. Additionally, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) has been evaluated as a nondestructive measurement to determine RCL presence. The results show that the grit-blasting processing parameters have strong influence on the ability to remove RCL and at the same time introduce beneficial compressive stresses even after short exposure time. Longer exposure will remove the RCL from the surface but also increase the risk that a larger amount of the blasting medium will get stuck into the surface. This investigation shows that a short exposure time in combination with a short grit-blasting nozzle distance is the most preferable process setting. It was further found that handheld XRF equipment can be used as a nondestructive measurement in order to evaluate the amount of RCL present on an EDM surface. This was realized by analyzing the residual elements from the EDM wire