Experimental studies of micro-EDM process parameter on titanium alloy using cryogenic treated copper tool by MCDM technique
摘要
Micro-electrical discharge machine (µEDM) has emerged as a significant micro-machining process, enabling the fabrication of intricate and precise micro-holes in conductive materials. This research explores the impact of µEDM process constraints on micro-drilling of Titanium grade 5, utilizing a cryogenically treated copper with a diameter of 0.3 mm on 20 mm × 20 mm × 0.5 mm workpiece. L27 orthogonal array was used as design of experiments, each representing a unique combination of factor level settings to the micro-drilling process. The investigation employs multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique to optimize the µEDM machining process. The research also focuses on optimizing key input parameters to enhance the material removal rate while minimizing tool wear rate (TWR), hole taper (HT) and hole overcut (HOC). The evaluation area-based method of ranking (EAMR) was used to rank the experimental outcomes, while the criteria weights were determined using the entropy method. The outcome of the experimentation indicates that the overall operation of the µEDM process is enhanced by optimizing the process parameter settings using EAMR. The result findings showed that the optimal parameter combinations identified are 25 V, 2.5 A, 7 µs (Ton) and 5 µs (Toff) for micro-drilling Ti-6Al-4V alloy with the chosen conditions. Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses were performed for the best and the worst alternative was found from the EAMR optimization to assess the quality of the entry, exit and surface walls of the holes.