International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

85 (2015)
Research India Publications; http/www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Study of surface roughness and dimensional

deviation in machining of titanium alloy by wire
EDM machining process using RSM technique
Andriya Narasimhulu

Sumit kumar

Assistant professor, MPAE divison

Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology
Dwarka, New Delhi
email id:andriya@nsit.ac.in

Under graduate student, MPAE

divison Netaji Subhas Institute of
Technology Dwarka, New Delhi
email id:skyadav9295@gmail.com
Abstract
Non-traditional machining processes are used to machine

help of a computerized control position system[5, 6].The

complex shape geometries and to get a good surface finish

process is proved to be more economical if it is used to cut

with tolerable dimensional deviation. Wire electrical

difficult to machine materials with complex, precise and

discharge machining (WEDM) process is one of the non-

accurate contours in low volume and greater variety[7].This

traditional processes which is used to cut complex shapes.

process gives a high degree of accuracy and good surface

Wire EDM is mainly used in aerospace, medical, tool and

finish.

dies making industry. It can machine any conductive

material, no matter how hard it is. The main aim of this

Titanium and its alloys are popularly known as hard to

paper is to study the surface roughness and dimensional

machine materials. The two most useful properties corrosion

deviation in machining of Ti grade-2 alloy at different

resistance and the highest strength-to-density ratio are

values of current and voltage. The selection of parameters

inherent to titanium and its alloys. These properties has led

depends on the requirement of surface roughness.RSM

to various successful applications in aerospace, automotive,

(response surface methodology) technique has been used to

chemical plant, power generation, oil and gas extraction,

find out the appropriate values of current and voltage.

sports, and other major industries[8, 9].Titanium has low

thermal conductivity and most of its alloys have high

Key words: WEDM, RSM, Dimensional

deviation, Ti grade-2

chemical reactivity with the cutting tool materials. Titanium

and its alloys have low modulus of elasticity and high
strength at the elevated temperatures which further increases

INTRODUCTION

the difficulty in its machining[10 -12].

WEDM is an electro thermal production process which is

Grade 2 titanium has

good weldability, strength,

useful for machining difficult-to-cut electrically conductive

ductility and formability. It

has numerous application in

materials. The material removal mechanism is similar to

medical industry as biocompatibility of titanium Grade 2 is

EDM with a little change in electrode shape. A series of

excellent especially when direct contact with bone or tissue

electric

is required[8,

discharge

take

place

between

wire

and

13]. This grade proved to be useful in

workpiecewhich cause removal of material [1-4]. A wire

chemical processes, as it is highly resistant to chemical

about 0.18mm diameter is used as an electrode and

environments including oxidizing media, alkaline media,

deionized water as dielectric fluid. Electrodes (wire and

organic acids and compounds, aqueous salt solutions and

workpiece) are connected to a pulsed DC supply. The

hot gases. Its corrosion resistance holds up in liquid metals,

temperature generated in this process is high enough to

nitric acid, mildly reducing acids and wet chlorine or

vaporize the material near its vicinity[4]. A constant gap is

bromine gas. It is also used to manufacture heat

maintained and the movement of wire is controlled with the

exchangers.and cryogenic vessels. In seawater, it is fully

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.85 (2015)
Research India Publications; http/www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
0
voltage, duty factor, dielectric pressure,

resistant to corrosion at temperatures up to 600 F, rendering

feed rate override,

wire feed rate, wire tension etc..

it ideal for a variety of marine uses. It is suitable for

condensers and evaporators, as well as the titanium tubing

In this experiment peak current and load voltage values are

and tube headers in desalination plants. As with other

varied keeping other parameters constant. Maximum values

applications where corrosion resistance and formability are

of voltage and current are 100V and 2A respectively.

essential, Grade 2 titanium proves useful in the aerospace

A table for set of experiments has been designed by selecting

industry. This pure grade is ideal for ductwork, brackets and

levels in RSM technique. On total 13 sets of values of current

equipment. It has a variety of other uses, not limited to

and voltage, experiments have been performed.

power generation, hydrocarbon processing, CPI equipment,

TABLE.2.Design table (using RSM technique)

architecture, and automotive and medical uses. It is also

S.NO

used to produce jigs, cathodes and starter-sheet blanks for

Voltage(V)

Current(A)

the electrodes.[14]

TABLE.1Chemical Composition
%N2

%C

%H2

%Fe

%O2

%(other

Ti

Impurities)

0.03

0.08

0.015

0.30

0.25

0.4

Surface

dimensional

roughness

deviation

(Rain m)

(in m)

80

1.6124

316.95

80

1.5

2.2420

340.14

60

1.5

3.5198

363.85

100

1.5

2.9513

526.87

60

3.1128

416.07

60

2.2429

242.62

100

2.3354

629.26

80

3.0518

259.01

80

1.5

2.1515

315.63

10

80

1.5

3.1358

347.16

11

80

1.5

2.4406

332.71

12

80

1.5

2.0475

333.65

13

100

2.5873

339.912

base

As titanium grade 2 has huge applications and it is hard to

machine, Wire- EDM can give us good results as it can
machine it with good accuracy.

EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND SETUP;

Equipments:
The experiments were conducted on a CNC wire cut EDM

machine with constant wire feed rate of 3.6mm/min in x and

y axis. Polywire (alloy of copper and tungsten) of diameter
0.18mm is used as electrode for all the experiments done.
Fig.1 shows the machine used in the experiment.

Material:
A plate of Grade-2 Titanium (Table 1) with thickness of
12mm is used as workpiece material in the experiment. The
other dimensions of the plate are given by 15mm x15mm.
Holes of diameter 10mm are made in this plate by wire-edm
process. Fig.2 shows the workpiece material after making
the holes.
Fig.1 WEDM machine used for experiments

EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS AND DESIGN:

The product quality produced by the WEDM is always
affected by the process parameters like peak current, load

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.85 (2015)
Research India Publications; http/www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
TABLE.3Estimated regression coefficients for measurement of surface
roughness
Term

Coef

SE Coef

Constant

8.3733

1.6045

5.218

0.003

Voltage

-0.2934

1.0410

7.154

0.001

Current

7.2747

1.2908

5.635

0.002

Voltage*Voltage

0.0019

0.0002

8.094

0.000

Current*current

-1.8020

0.3877

4.649

0.006

Voltage*current

-1.0173

0.0068

2.536

0.052

Fig.2 Workpiece after get machined

Table1 gives the regression coefficients for the quadratic

equation obtained for surface roughness. y=10.1117-

RESULT AND ANALYSIS

0.2692v+2.8043c+0.0017v*v-0.06606c*c-0.008v*c
1. Surface Roughness:
Fig.3 shows the measurement of surface roughness. Current
and voltage are the important parameters to decide the
surface roughness during machining by WEDM process. We
can observe that the surface increases with increase in
current this is because of increase in the spark energy which
causes the surface pits resulting from material of removal to
enlarge Spark gap voltage is a significant from parameter in
obtaining better surface finish. The increase in voltage
means that the electric field become stronger and spark
discharge take place easily under the same gap and a coarse
surface is obtained.

Fig 4.Variation of surface roughness with current.

Fig.4shows the surface roughness is increasing with the

current that is because of increase in the spark energy which
causes the high material removal.

2. Dimensional Deviation:
Fig.5shows the measurement of the hole under SEM at 10X.
The deviations in the dimension is correctly measured in
um. It is observed that low current and high voltage give
more deviation from the standard value as at high voltage
spark produced more easily so it will result in increase in
deviation.

Fig.3 Measurement of surface roughness

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.85 (2015)
Research India Publications; http/www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
TABLE.5 Analysis of variance of dimensional deviation
Source

DF

Seq SS

Adj SS

Adj MS

Regression

2581.72

2581.72

516.243

33.26

0.008

Linear

2178.54

1559.38

779.690

50.23

0.005

Square

19.99

241.09

120.544

7.77

0.065

Interaction

383.18

383.18

383.83

24.68

0.016

Residual

46.57

46.57

15.524

Pure error

46.57

46.57

15.524

Total error

2628.29

error

Fig.5Measurement of dimensional deviation under SEM

TABLE.6Analysis of variance of surface roughness

We have plotted the values against current and voltage

which is shown in Fig.6.

Source

DF

Seq SS

Adj SS

Adj MS

Regression

1.7025

1.7025

0.3405

18.12

0.003

Linear

0.3412

0.3412

0.5909

31.45

0.001

Square

0.2404

0.2404

0.6202

33.00

0.001

Interaction

0.1209

0.1209

0.1208

6.43

0.052

Residual

0.0939

0.0939

0.0187

Lack of fit

0.0108

0.0108

0.0054

0.20

0.832

Pure error

0.0831

0.0831

0.02770

Total

10

1.79655

error

.
Fig.6Variation of current and voltage with dimension deviation

The model is adequate for 95% confidence level to represent

A regression equation is also developed for dd with current

the relation between the machining response and considered

and voltage as variables.

parameters. This implies that the model is adequate and can

dd= 178.1456 -24.7778*c 1374.9600*v 0.2880c*c 169.1133v*v -11.5695v*c

be used for further analysis to determine the effects of

various process parameters on the responses.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

TABLE.4. Estimated regression coefficients for dimensional deviation

Term
coef
Se
T
P

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from

coef
constant

336.895

2.786

120.923

0.000

Current

47.585

6.534

7.283

0.005

voltage

8.7000

2.786

3.123

0.052

Current*current

-12.750

4.405

-2.894

0.063

Voltage*voltage

14.525

3.940

3.687

0.035

Current*voltage

33.395

6.824

4.968

0.016

the management and staffs in MPAE division, Netaji

Subhas Institute of Technology. Mawasi Industries is also
thanked for their contribution in respected area. And all
those who contributed directly or indirectly are thanked.

CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an attempt was made to study the effect of the
important machining parameters (current and voltage) for

The analysis of variance has been performed to justify for

performance of WEDM viz surface roughness and

goodness of fit for the second order model of dimensional

dimensional deviation. The main goal is to determine their

deviation and surface roughness which has been shown in

values so that machining parameters can be set accordingly.

Table.5 and Table.6.

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.85 (2015)
Research India Publications; http/www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

The outcome of this study will help in machining complex

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