Investigations of electrical discharge machining of Al6061/14%wt fly-ash composite with different tool electrodes

Abstract In this study, the effect of process parameters i.e. tool electrode, gap current, pulse-on time, gap voltage and duty cycle on MRR, TWR and SR behaviour of Al6061/14% fly-ash Aluminium matrix composite has been investigated. Experimental runs were designed using an L18(2^1×3^4) mixed orthogonal array of Taguchi method and performed on die-sinking EDM EN-35 using copper and brass as tool electrodes respectively. S/N (Signal to Noise) ratio analysis is subsequently applied to determine an optimal EDM parameter setting. MRR, TWR and SR are selected as quality parameters. Further, the results of ANOVA reveal the most significant controlled factor effecting the multiple responses in EDM according to MRR, TWR and SR. Objective of the model was chosen as “larger the better” characteristics to analyse the MRR but “smaller the better’’ characteristics to analyse TWR and SR.