Experimental investigation of EDM process parameters by using Pongamia Pinnata osil blends as dielectric medium

Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is an incredibly recognizable machining for ticklishness profiles in ’difficult to machine ‘materials. In EDM, the material ejection of the cathode is cultivated through exact controlled electric pulse (the flash), which changes the metals of two terminals into dissolve and vaporize, as a result of the breakdown of the dielectric medium. The most commonly used dielectric media are kerosene, paraffin, glycerin, transformer oil, and EDM oil; all are derived from petroleum. These dielectric media undergo pyrolysis and carbon soot formation is deposited on work electrode, and sometimes carbon precipitates into work. To overcome these effects vegetable oils are tried as alternate dielectric media. Pongamia Pinnetta is abundantly available in most countries; and it is cheaper and non-edible. Pongamia Pinnata (PP) oil is extracted from plant seeds, and is blended with EDM oil and several experimentations are done to find its suitability. Operational variables with respect to input and output parameters are identified. Some of these are best EWR, MRR, TWR, and SR with applied current (I), pulse on time (Ton), and pulse off time (Toff) are the ones picked as the input process factors; because for the industrial application many machinists choose these three as the input parameters; and other is constant and picked under specific requirements only. After the successful completion of this experimentations, Pongamia Pinnata oil blends are fit for the industrial application using technique of order preferancing with similar to ideal solution [TOPSIS]. It is observed that no carbon soot formation takes place in the work component with PP oil as the dielectric fluid.

Keywords:

Electrode Wear Rate (EWR) , Material Removal Rate (MRR) , Tool Wear Rate (TWR) , Surface Roughness (SR) , Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) , TOPSIS