Experimental investigation of machining of non conductive material on electric discharge machine (EDM).

Abstract

Electric Discharge machining(EDM) is non traditional machining method widely used now a days for machining 'difficult to machine' materials. As it is non contact type of machined component has high accuracy , good surface finish and excellent qualities. The restriction is that workpiece has to be electrically conductive. Extensive research has been done on EDM on conductive materials but non conductive machining by EDM is new area to be focused on. The concept of assisting electrode has opened the doors for machining non conductive materials such as ceramics glasses and zirconia. In this experimental study ,zirconia is taken as non conductive material and various coating methods are applied which acts as assisting electrode. Design of experiments is done by Taguchi method. Experiments are conducted by L9 orthogonal array obtained from Minitab 17 software by selecting proper process parameters and response variables. Analysis of results based on ANOVA is assessed. Optimal results are assessed by grey relational analysis(GRA).