OPTIMIZATION OF CIRCULARITY ERROR WITH TAGUCHI FOR SAE-4130 CONSIDERING SURFACE RESPONSES IN WIRE-EDM MACHINING

Abstract

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is a specialized thermal machining process capable of accurately machining parts of hard materials with complex shapes. Parts having sharp edges that pose difficulties to be machined by the main stream machining processes can be easily machined by WEDM process. Technology of the WEDM process is based on the conventional EDM sparking phenomenon utilizing the widely accepted noncontact technique of material removal with a difference that spark is generated at wire and work piece gap. In this paper experiments are carried out to examine the effect of W-EDM parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut on responses like; roundness, surface roughness, during W-EDM of SAE 4130. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is performed and the influence of parameters on each response is studied. The optimal values of parameters obtained from the study are further confirmed by conducting experiments using Taguchi methods.