Influence of electrical discharge machining parameters on cutting parameters of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic

Today the use of high-strength carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) composite as a material for many engineering applications is showing an increasing demand in the industry. These composites are replacing the traditional use of steel because they offer many advantages such as very light weight, high strength, and high stiffness associated with good corrosion-resistant properties. Unfortunately, there is little technological knowledge on the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process of high-strength composite materials, especially about the CFRP. In this work, a study has made into the possibility of using EDM process as a means of machining CFRP composite. Various cutting conditions such as peak current, pulse-on time, pulse-off time and open-circuit voltage were selected to perform electrical discharge machining. The effect of electrode rotation was also studied. Optimum cutting conditions and machine settings for EDM were chosen for machining CFRP composites.