Experimental investigation and empirical modeling of the dry electric discharge machining process

Dry electric discharge machining (EDM) is an environment-friendly modification of the oil EDM process in which liquid dielectric is replaced by a gaseous medium. In the current work, parametric analysis of the process has been performed with tubular copper tool electrode and mild steel workpiece. Experiments have been conducted using air as the dielectric medium to study the effect of gap voltage, discharge current, pulse-on time, duty factor, air pressure and spindle speed on material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (R(a)) and tool wear rate (TWR). First, a set of exploratory experiments has been performed to identify the optimum tool design and to select input parameters and their levels for later stage experiments. Empirical models for MRR, R(a) and TWR have then been developed by performing a designed experiment based on the central composite design of experiments. Response surface analysis has been done using the developed models. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were performed to identify the significant parameters. Current, duty factor, air pressure and spindle speed were found to have significant effects on MRR and R(a). However, TWR was found to be very small and independent of the input parameters. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.