ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING

SUBTITLE - SPARK TIME AND ITS EFFECT ON MRR

AND SURFACE ROUGHNESS
INTRODUCTION
Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is an electro-thermal non-traditional machining process, where
electrical energy is used to generate electrical spark and material removal mainly occurs due to thermal
energy of the spark. EDM is mainly used to machine difficult-to-machine materials and high strength
temperature resistant alloys. EDM can be used to machine difficult geometries in small batches or
even on job-shop basis.
Work material to be machined by EDM has to be electrically conductive. Material is removed from
the workpiece by a series of rapidly recurring current discharges between two electrodes,
separated by a dielectric liquid and subject to an electric voltage. One of the electrodes is called
the tool-electrode, or simply the "tool" or "electrode", while the other is called the workpiece-
electrode, or "workpiece". The process depends upon the tool and workpiece not making actual
contact.

MATERIAL REMOVAL PROCESS

In EDM, a potential difference is applied between the tool and workpiece. Both the tool and the
work material are to be conductors of electricity. The tool and the work material are immersed in
a dielectric medium. Generally kerosene or deionised water is used as the dielectric medium. A
gap is maintained between the tool and the workpiece. Depending upon the applied potential
difference and the gap between the tool and workpiece, an electric field would be established.
Generally the tool is connected to the negative terminal of the generator and the workpiece is
connected to positive terminal.

1
 Fig. Schematic representation of Electrical Discharge Machining

As the electric field is established between the tool and the job, the free electrons on the tool are
subjected to electrostatic forces. If the work function or the bonding energy of the electrons is less,
electrons would be emitted from the tool (assuming it to be connected to the negative terminal).
Such emission of electrons are called or termed as cold emission.
The cold emitted electrons are then accelerated towards the job through the dielectric medium. As
they gain velocity and energy, and start moving towards the job, there would be collisions
between the electrons and dielectric molecules. Such collision may result in ionisation of the
dielectric molecule depending upon the work function or ionisation energy of the dielectric
molecule and the energy of the electron.
Thus, as the electrons get accelerated, more positive ions and electrons would get generated due
to collisions. This cyclic process would increase the concentration of electrons and ions in the
dielectric medium between the tool and the job at the spark gap. The concentration would be so
high that the matter existing in that channel could be characterised as plasma. The electrical
resistance of such plasma channel would be very less. Thus all of a sudden, a large number of
electrons will flow from the tool to the job and ions from the job to the tool. This is called
avalanche motion of electrons. Such movement of electrons and ions can be visually seen as a
spark. Thus the electrical energy is dissipated as the thermal energy of the spark.
The high speed electrons then impinge on the job and ions on the tool. The kinetic energy of the
electrons and ions on impact with the surface of the job and tool respectively would be converted
into thermal energy or heat flux. Such intense localised heat flux leads to extreme instantaneous
confined rise in temperature which would be in excess of , C. Such localised extreme rise in
temperature leads to material removal. Material removal occurs due to instant vapourisation of
the material as well as due to melting. The molten metal is not removed completely but only
partially.
As the potential difference is withdrawn, the plasma channel is no longer sustained. As the plasma
channel collapse, it generates pressure or shock waves, which evacuates the molten material
forming a crater of removed material around the site of the spark.
So, the material removal in EDM mainly occurs due to formation of shock waves as the plasma
channel collapse owing to discontinuation of applied potential difference. Generally the workpiece
is made positive and the tool negative. Hence, the electrons strike the job leading to crater
formation due to high temperature and melting and material removal.
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Similarly, the positive ions impinge on the tool leading to tool wear. In EDM, the generator is used
to apply voltage pulses between the tool and the job. A constant voltage is not applied. Only
sparking is desired in EDM rather than arcing.Arcing leads to localised material removal at a
particular point whereas sparks get distributed all over the tool surface leading to uniformly
distributed material removal under the tool.

PROCESS PARAMETERS
The process parameters in EDM are mainly related to the waveform characteristics. The figure
given below shows a general waveform used in EDM

Fig. Waveform used in EDM

The waveform is characterised by the

The open circuit voltage -
The working voltage -
The maximum current -
The pulse on time the duration for which the voltage pulse is applied -
The pulse off time -
The gap between the workpiece and the tool spark gap -
The polarity straight polarity tool (-ve)
The dielectric medium
External flushing through the spark gap.
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MODELLING OF MATERIAL REMOVAL AND PRODUCT QUALITY

Material removal depends on mainly thermal properties of the work material rather than its
strength, hardness etc. The tool and the work piece have to be electrically conductive as well. The
tool wear once again depends on the thermal properties of the tool and work piece
material.Material removal in EDM mainly occurs due to intense localized heating almost by point
heat source for a rather small time frame. Such heating leads to melting and crater formation as
shown in Figure.

Tool

Work piece

Spark

Crater

Fig. Schematic representation of crater formation in EDM process

Resistance-capacitance type (RC type) Relaxation generator is most commonly used in Electrical
Discharge Machining process to generate electric pulses required for machining.

C

4
 Fig. Schematic of the working principle of RC type EDM relaxation circuit

During charging, at any instant, from circuit theory following derivation comes in play.

dV 1
Or, = dt
Vo Vc CRc

At t = 0, Vc = 0 and t = , =

dV 1
0 V V = 0
o c CRc

- = |( )|0



= {|1 |}


Or = {1 }

Where, Ic = charging current

Vo = open circuit voltage
R c = charging resistance
C = capacitance
Vc = instantaneous capacitor voltage
Thus at any instant charging current, ic , can be given as:

= =

During discharging, the electrical load coming from the EDM may be assumed a totally resistive
and is characterised by a machine resistance of Rm. then the current passing through the EDM
machine is given by,

VC dVc
id = = C
Rm dt

Where, = discharge current or current flowing through the machine

= instantaneous capacitor voltage during discharging

= machine resistance
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The negative sign in front of the derivative of the voltage represents that the is gradually
decreasing during discharging. Now at t = 0 (i.e. at the start of discharging, i.e. initiation of the
spark), = and at t = , =

V dVc 1 td
Vd Vc
= dt
CRm 0
c

td Vd
- = ln
CRm Vc

td
Vc
Vd = . eRm C
Rm

Vd Vc t
id = = eRm C
Rm Rm

Thus the voltage and the current pulses during charging and discharging is given in below figure

For maximum power dissipation in RC type EDM generator = 0.716 Vo.

The charging time or idle time or off time, , can be expressed as,

=
ln (1 )

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The discharging time or machining time or on time can be expressed as,

=
ln ( )

Also, the spark time is the machining time so,

Spark time =

Total energy discharged through spark gap = 0 2

1 2
=
2

td
Duty cycle is the ratio of cycle-on time and total cycle time = x 100 %
tc +

The material removal rate, MRR, in EDM is calculated by the following formula:


MRR = , . (3 /min)

Where, is the current in amp, is the melting temperature of work piece in.

The present work is aimed at characterizing the electric discharge machining of Maraging steels
on EDM. Experiments are conducted by varying EDM parameters such as discharge current, pulse-
on-time or spark time, and duty factor. The performance measures like Material removal rate,
surface roughness, and hardness are assessed.

Maraging steels are known for possessing superior strength and toughness without losing
malleability.These steels are a special class of low-carbon ultra-high-strength steels that derive
their strength not from carbon, but from precipitation of intermetallic compounds.Due to the low
carbon content maraging steels have good machinability. Non-stainless varieties of maraging steel
are moderately corrosion-resistant, and resist stress corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement.
Corrosion-resistance can be increased bycadmium plating or phosphating.
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Experimental Data& Observations

Work piece Maraging Steel (M-250; M high speed steel)

C 0.1%, Ni- 18%, Co -7.75%, Al - 0.1%, Ti 0.4%, Mo- 4.8%

20mm*8mm*5 mm

Tool electrode Copper

Dielectric Kerosene

Varying Parameters spark time, discharge current, duty cycle (D)

Measuring parameters MRR, Surface roughness(SR), hardness and surface changes

Discharge current 5 to 15 amp

Spark time 20 to 100 s

Variation of MRR with current and SR at constant pulse-on time and duty
factor

S.No. Discharge Current Spark time Duty Factor MRR Roughness

, amp , s % 3 /min , m
1 5 100 33.33 6.4495 4.68
2 10 100 33.33 10.2717 5.35
3 15 100 33.33 11.7068 5.52
4 5 50 50 9.7256 6.425
5 10 50 50 11.9974 6.7056
6 15 50 50 13.3905 7.925
7 5 20 66.67 14.6854 6.9725
8 10 20 66.67 15.1469 7.1765
9 15 20 66.67 15.2922 8.91

Inference
It is observed that, when the discharge current increases at constantspark time and constant duty
factor, the MRR increases. When the current is increased from 5A to 10A the metal removal rate is
increased with current. This means that, when current are higher, melting starts earlier i.e. low
machining initiation time. It can be attributed that metal removal rate is proportional to the
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product of energy and pulse frequency. Increasing the pulse current at a constant frequency
increases the energy of the pulse and ultimately higher metal removal rate. The surface roughness
is increased with increase in current. When the discharge current is high, the spark intensity and
discharge power are more, subsequently causing a large crater depth on the surface of the work
piece,which resulted in high surface roughness value.

I = 5A I = 10A I = 15A

18

16

14
MRR, ^3/MIN

12

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME, S

I = 5A I = 10a I = 15A

10
9
8
ROUGHNESS VALUE

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME, S
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Variation of Hardness with the Pulse-On-Time at 5A current and 50% duty
factor

S.No. Spark time Hardness

, s Hv

1 20 394.4

2 50 866.8

3 100 868

I =5A

1000
900
800
HARDNESS VALUE

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME

Inference
Vickers hardness value increase withincrease in pulse-on-time from 20s to 100s.This is due
tothe fact that, a long pulse duration causes the plasma channelto expand. The expansion of
plasma channel causes lessenergy density on the work piece, which is insufficient tomelt the work
piece material and at the same time it wontdeplete the deposition of carbon layer on work piece.
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 Variation of MRR with pulse-on-time at constant current and duty factor

S.No. Discharge Current Spark time Duty Factor MRR Roughness

, amp , s % 3 /min , m
1 5 20 33.33 10.2717 5.165
2 5 50 33.33 9.7256 4.262
3 5 100 33.33 8.5974 4.0867
4 10 20 50 15.1469 5.86
5 10 50 50 14.6574 5.54
6 10 100 50 12.4566 4.87
7 15 20 66.67 19.5866 6.56
8 15 50 66.67 17.6888 5.70
9 15 100 66.67 12.7068 4.98

25
D = 33.33% D = 50% D = 66.67%

20

15
MRR

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME,S
11
 I = 5A, 33.33% I = 10A, 50% I = 15A, 66.67%

ROUGHNESS VALUE 6

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME

Inference
The metal removal rate is decreased with increase inspark time. This is because of the short pulses
which cause less vaporization, whereas, long pulse duration causethe plasma channel to expand.
The expansion of plasmachannel cause less energy density on the work piece, which isinsufficient
to melt and/ or vaporize the work piece material.We can observe that, the surface roughness is
decreased withincrease in spark-time from 20s to 100s. Whenspark time increases, the
intensity of plasma arcdecreases. Hence the depth of crater formed in each casedecreases
resulting in the reduction of surface roughness.

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 Variation of MRR with duty factor at constant current and pulse-on-time

S.No. Discharge Current Spark time Duty Factor MRR Roughness

, amp , s % 3 /min , m
1 5 50 33.33 8.2606 4.225
2 5 50 50 9.7256 4.262
3 5 50 66.67 11.0172 5.70
4 10 20 33.33 9.4325 5.225
5 10 20 50 14.3452 5.45
6 10 20 66.67 15.1469 5.70
7 15 100 33.33 11.7068 5.742
8 15 100 50 21.9256 5.86
9 15 100 66.67 23.8820 6.73

D = 33.33% D = 50% D = 66.67%

30

25

20
MRR

15

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME
13
 8
D = 33.33% D = 50% D = 66.67%

6
ROUGHNESS VALUE

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPARK TIME

Inference
Whenduty factor increases at constant discharge current and constantspark time, material
removal rate increases. It is alsoobserved that at constant duty factor the material removal
ratealso increases with discharge current. It can be noted that, the surfaceroughness is increased
with increase in duty factor from33.33% to 66.66%. This is due to the fact that at higher
dutyfactor, increase in percent of machining time and increase intotal current which automatically
increases MRR will occur.Due to faster metal removal rate, surface roughness isincreased. It is
evident that at lower duty factor we can getgood surface finish rather than at higher duty factor.

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