Reduction of Energy Consumption and Thermal Deformation in WEDM by Magnetic Field Assisted Technology

Energy consumption and machining accuracy are considered to be two important attributes of performance indicators for green operations of wire electric discharge machining (WEDM). However, there is a paucity of studies that focus on the energy consumption and geometric error caused by thermal deformation. In this paper, a hybrid technique of WEDM with assisted magnetic field (MF) is proposed for enhancing machining performance to reduce energy consumption and thermal deformation. Based on the principles of thermal deformation, energy consumption, and magnetic field-assisted WEDM, a set of experiments is conducted to investigate thermal deformation and energy consumption of MF-assisted WEDM and conventional WEDM machining of Inconel 718. The effects of magnetic field on thermal deformation, discharge waveforms, surface integrity, and energy consumption are analyzed, and it is concluded that the proposed hybrid technique of MF-assisted WEDM offers numerous advantages and potential for applications in the green precision manufacturing field.