Optimization of Micro-EDM Process and its Performance Characteristic
Micro-EDM has become an important and cost-effective method of machining extremely tough and brittle electrically conductive materials. It is most widely used in process of making dies and moulds and complex sections geometry and some intricate shapes. work piece material is choosed in this experiment by using AISI 304 Stainless steel. Today's world 304 stainless steel is contributes to almost half of the world's production and the consumptions for industrial purposes. The input variable parameters are pulse on time ,current and duty cycle. The effect of variable parameters that is mentioned above upon the machining characteristics such as MRR, SR and Overcut (OC) is studied.. The tool material is copper in this experiment. The results obtained showed that the current was the most significant parameter is followed by the pulse on time and the least significant was duty cycle for entire three responses namely MRR, Surface roughness(SR) and OC. With the increase in current and duty cycle MRR is increased but for pulse on time it increased only up to 100 micro second and then started to decrease. SR increased significantly with the increase in current; for pulse on time it increased up to 100 micro second and after that there was no significant increase; and in case of duty cycle SR increased up to 70% and then started to decrease.