Study of Working Medium Performance by Acoustic Emission in EDM Machining of Ti6Al4V

Abstract

In electrical discharge machining (EDM), the working medium plays an important role in the material removal process. Lots of methods have been utilized to study this process, but a widely accepted explanation about this process has not been yet accomplished. In this study, the acoustic emission (AE) sensor was fixed on EDM machine to study the material removal process by observing the expansion and contraction process of gas bubble surrounding the discharge plasma. The machining performance in different working mediums was studied for Ti-6Al-4V machining in air, kerosene, and water-based emulsion. Discharge in different working mediums would result in different material removal rates and surface quality. The difference of AE wave frequency domain distribution for discharge in different working mediums was studied. It was observed that the frequency of acoustic emission wave generated by discharge in different working mediums would be different. The characteristic difference of single AE wave generated by discharge in air, kerosene, and water-based emulsion was compared. It was found that the duration time and peak amplitude of acoustic emission wave generated by discharge in different working mediums were different, and the acoustic emission wave generated by discharge in water-based emulsion would last longer and get higher peak amplitude compared to discharge in air and kerosene. The significant difference of AE wave generated by discharge in water-based emulsion from that in kerosene was found. Based on the acoustic emission wave observation, the special characteristic of the material removal process for discharge in water-based emulsion was found.