Performance Optimization of Electrical Discharge Machining (Die Sinker) for Al-6061 via Taguchi Approach

Abstract

This paper parametrically optimizes the EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) process in die sinking mode for material removal rate, surface roughness and edge quality of aluminum alloy Al-6061. The effect of eight parameters namely discharge current, pulse on-time, pulse off-time, auxiliary current, working time, jump time distance, servo speed and work piece hardness are investigated. Taguchi's orthogonal array L18 is employed herein for experimentation. ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) with F-ratio criterion at 95% confidence level is used for identification of significant parameters whereas SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) is used for determination of optimum levels. Optimization obtained for Al-6061 with parametric combination investigated herein is validated by the confirmation run.

Keywords

• Al-6061
• Electrical Discharge Machining
• Parametric Optimization
• Taguchi's Method