Journal of Engineering Science and Technology

Vol. 10, No. 1 (2015) 72 - 80

© School of Engineering, Taylor’s University

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON ELECTRICAL

DISCHARGE MACHINING OF TITANIUM ALLOY USING
COPPER, BRASS AND ALUMINUM ELECTRODES
1, 2 3
S. DHANABALAN *, K. SIVAKUMAR , C. SATHIYA NARAYANAN
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, J.J. College of Engineering and Technology
Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu, India-620009
2
Bannari Amman Instituteof Technology Sathiyamangalam, Tamilnadu, India-638401
3
Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli,
Tamilnadu, India-620015
*Corresponding Author: dhanabalan69@gmail.com

Abstract
In the present study, an evaluation has been done on Material Removal Rate
(MRR), Surface Roughness (SR) and Electrode Wear Rate (EWR) during
Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) of titanium alloy using copper, brass
and aluminum electrodes. Analyzing previous work in this field, it is found that
electrode wear and material removal rate increases with an increase current. It is
also found that the electrode wear ratio increases with an increase in current.
The higher wear ratio is found during machining of titanium alloy using a brass
electrode. An attempt has been made to correlate the thermal conductivity and
melting point of electrode with the MRR and electrode wear. The MRR is
found to be high while machining titanium alloy using brass electrode. During
machining of titanium alloy using copper electrodes, a comparatively smaller
quantity of heat is absorbed by the work material due to low thermal
conductivity. Due to the above reason, the MRR becomes very low. During
machining of titanium alloy using aluminium electrodes, the material removal
rate and electrode wear rate are only average value while machining of titanium
alloy using brass and copper electrodes.
Keywords: EDM, Electrode wear rate (EWR), Material removal rate (MRR),
Taguchi method, Wear ratio (WR).

1. Introduction
Many researchers have conducted experiment on electrical discharge machining
(EDM) process owing to its based industrial application, particularly in machining
high strength steel, tungsten carbide and titanium alloys [1-5]. Tosun and Ozler [6]
72
 Experimental Investigation on Electrical Discharge Machining of Titanium . . . . 73

Nomenclatures

IP Peak current, A
k Thermal conductivity, W/m.K
Tm Melting temperature, K

Abbreviations
EDM Electrical discharge machine
EW Electrode wear
EWR Electrode wear rate
MRR Material removal rate
WR Wear ratio
have worked on optimization for EDM process parameters with multiple performance
characteristics. Electrical Discharge Machining is achieved by applying a succession
of discrete discharge between electrode (cathode) and an electrically conducting
workpiece, separated by small gap and the total set up is immersed in dielectric fluid.
The gap between tool and workpiece known as spark gap, is maintained between the
tool and workpiece to cause the spark discharge. Shankar Singh et al. [7] proposed,
hole making process that has been long recognized as one of the most important
machining. Many researchers like Debabrata Mandal et al. [8], Kesheng Wang et al.
[9], Ho and Newman [10], Krishna Mohana Rao et al. [11] have carried out
experimental works and used many algorithms and methods with an aim to optimize
material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and surface roughness while
machining titanium alloy. Shankar Singh and Khan [7, 12] carried out some
investigation on electrode wear and material removal rate during EDM of steel using
graphite, brass, copper and copper tungsten electrodes. Some researchers have
developed mathematical model to optimize the electrode wear (EW), MRR and
surface roughness [13, 14].
The titanium alloy which is used for making some components on aerospace,
biomedical applications and in many corrosive environments [14-18]. From the
literature survey, no creditable works were conducted while machining of
titanium alloy in EDM process by using multiple material electrodes [19]. In this
research work, electrode materials like copper, brass and aluminum were taken
for machining of titanium grade 2. The electrical discharge machining has been
conducted with these electrodes and analysis has been made on electrode wear,
SR and MRR. Consequently, an attempt has been made to analyses the influences
of thermal conductivity and melting point of multiple material electrode and
workpiece materials on MRR, EWR and wear ratio.

2. Experimental Details
The experiments were conducted by using a die sinking electrical discharge
machine made in India with a capacity of 15 A as maximum current rating. The die
sinking EDM setup is shown in Fig.1. The workpiece, titanium alloy, is in the form
of strip. The workpiece was connected to positive terminal and cylindrical copper,
brass and aluminium electrodes, was connected to negative terminal of the DC
power supply. The electrodes were prepared by using CNC lathe with good the
surface finish, which is turn affects the surface finish of workpiece. Kerosene was
used as dielectric fluid with a pressure of 0.2 kg/cm², and side flushing technique

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

 74 S. Dhanabalan et al.

was used to conduct all the experiments. The weight of the electrode and workpiece
were measured before machining and after machining by using a China made
SHIMADZU BL series electronic weight with an accuracy of 0.001 grams for every
trial run. The surface roughness was measured by using a Japan made MITUTOYO
SJ-201P profilometer. Roughness is measured at three different randomly selected
locations and average Ra values have been considered.

Fig. 1. View of test position equipped with SPARKONIX EDM machine.

In this research work, electrodes used were in the form of cylinder with 10
mm length and 6 mm diameter. The major properties of the electrode material are
shown in Table 1. The workpiece materials used in the present study were
titanium Grade 2 alloy and its chemical composition of titanium alloy and major
properties are shown in the Table 2 and Table 3 respectively.

Table 1. Major properties of electrode materials.

Thermal Melting Electrical Specific
Electrode
Conductivity(k) Point (Tm) resistivity heat capacity
material
(W/m.K) (K) (Ω cm) (J/g °C)
Copper 391 1,083 1.69 0.385
Brass 159 990 4.7 0.38
Aluminum 227 660 2.9 0.9

Table 2. Chemical composition of the Titanium Grade 2.

Ti Fe O C N H Pd Hardness
99.2 0.3 0.25 0.1 0.03 0.015 0.2 170 HBN

Table 3. Major properties of Titanium Grade 2.

Thermal Density Specific
Workpiece Melting
Conductivity k (g/cm3 ) heat capacity
material Point Tm (K)
(W/m.K) (J/kg °C)
4.42
Titanium alloy 7.2 1649 560

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

 Experimental Investigation on Electrical Discharge Machining of Titanium . . . . 75

3. Design of Experiments
In this work, the Taguchi approach has been used to design the experimental
parameters. Taguchi has standardized methods for each of these DoE application
steps. The Taguchi approach can reduce the number of experiments required to
obtain necessary data for optimization. Therefore, DoE using Taguchi approach
has become a much more attractive tool for those who attempt the optimization
of any system [14, 15]. A total of three parameters namely current, pulse on time
and pulse off time were chosen for the controlling factor, and each parameter
was designed to have three levels, namely small, medium, and large, denoted by
1, 2 and 3, as shown in the Table 4.

Table 4. Machining parameters and their levels.

Parameter Unit Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
A Current A 4 8 12
B Pulse on time µs 200 400 600
C Pulse off time µs 10 20 40

4. Result and Discussions

As per the experimental results, the size of the crater is found to increase with an
increase in current there by decreasing the surface roughness. The calculations of
the MRR and electrode wear were based on the measurement of machined
volume and percentage weight loss, respectively.

4.1. Discharge current against material removal rate

Figure 2 shows the effect of discharge current on MRR for the titanium alloy
workpiece material. It is observed that, in case of brass electrode the MRR increases
with increase in the discharge current. The aluminum electrode produces moderate
increase in MRR with increase in the discharge current, where at the copper
electrode does not produce any significant increase in the MRR due to increase in
the discharge current. However, the increased MRR was found during machining of
titanium grade 2 using brass electrodes. Comparatively low thermal conductivity k
of brass as an electrode material does not allow the absorption of much of the heat
energy, and most of the heat is utilized in removal of material.

Fig. 2. Variation of material removal rate with current.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

76 S. Dhanabalan et al.

4.2. Effect of melting point of workpiece material and thermal

conductivity of workpiece material
Since, EDM is thermal erosion process, the amount of material removal or
material removal rate should be a function of melting point of the workpiece
material. Also, the heat generated from the arc in the EDM process concentrates
in a small portion of a workpiece material and it is dissipated through the
workpiece material. Due to this reason, MRR is also a function of thermal
conductivity of the workpiece material. The MRR is directly proportional to
melting point (Tm) of the workpiece material and inversely proportional to
thermal conductivity (k) of the workpiece material. Therefore, it is attempted to
correlate the MRR with (Tm/k) the workpiece material. The plot between MRR
and Tm/k is given in Fig. 3. From the experiments MRR of titanium alloy has
been taken, the MRR of tool steel have been taken from the work of Shankar
Singh [7], and the MRR of mild steel and aluminum has been taken from the
work of Khan [12]. From Fig. 3 it is seen that the MRR decreases exponentially
with respect Tm/k of the workpiece material.

4.3. Discharge current against electrode wear rate

Figure 4 shows the variations of electrode wear rate with discharge current. It is
observed that, in case of brass electrode, the electrode wear increase with increase
in discharge current, where in both aluminum and copper electrodes have minimal
wear. For example, during machining of titanium at Ip of 8 A, the wear of copper
and aluminium electrode is 0.004 g/min and 0.022 g/min respectively.

Fig. 3. MRR vs. melting point of workpiece material and

thermal conductivity of workpiece materials.

Fig. 4. Variation of electrode wear rate with discharge current.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

 Experimental Investigation on Electrical Discharge Machining of Titanium . . . . 77

The electrode wear for brass electrode is 0.119 g/min. This is due to the fact
that the thermal conductivity (k) of copper and aluminium (391 W/m-K and 227
W/m -K) is almost 2.5 and 1.7 times higher than of brass (159 W/m-K). This
facilitates rapid heat transfer through the body of copper and aluminium
electrodes compared to brass electrodes. It can also be noted that melting point
(Tm) of copper (1.083 °C) is higher to that of brass (990 °C) that causes less
melting point and wear of copper electrodes.

4.4. Discharge current against surface roughness

Figure 5 shows the effect of discharge current on surface roughness for the
titanium alloy. It is observed that aluminum gives low value of surface roughness
at high discharge current on titanium alloy, where as, brass and copper electrodes
results in poor machined surface at high currents. Because of the reason that the
higher MRR of copper electrodes is accompanied by larger and deeper craters,
resulting in a greater surface roughness.

Fig. 5. Variation of surface roughness with discharge current.

4.5. Discharge current and pulse on time against wear ratio

The relationship between wear ratio WR (ratio of volume of material removed
from electrode to the volume of material removed from the workpiece) with Ip
and pulse on time is illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. It is observed from the graph,
that the wear ratio increase with increase in Ip and pulse on time. This shows that
high current and pulse on time causes more material removed in electrode than
that of the workpiece. A stronger spark is produced at a higher current there by
producing more heat. Since the electrode is relatively smaller than that of
workpiece, the heat get accumulated in it resulting in high temperature and
consequently high electrode wear, where in case of workpiece, heat is easily
dissipated through it owing to its massive size. The heat generated during a spark
is absorbed by the workpiece, electrode, dielectric fluid and the machine part. For
best results, most of the heat should be absorbed by the workpiece than that of the
electrode. If the thermal conductivity of the electrode is high, then the
accumulation of heat in electrode is less resulting is less electrode wear. Due to
the above reason, less wear ratio is obtained while machining titanium alloy using
aluminum and copper electrode than that of brass electrode.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

78 S. Dhanabalan et al.

Brass electrode wear ratio

4.5

4.0
Wear ratio
3.5
600
3.0
400
Pulse on time micro secs
5.0
7.5 200
10.0
12.5
Current A

Fig. 6. Relationship between WR with current and

pulse on time for brass electrode.

Copper electrode wear ratio

2.4

2.2
Wear ratio
2.0
600
1.8
400
Pulse on time micro secs
5.0
7.5 200
10.0
12.5
Current A

Fig. 7. Relationship between WR with current and

pulse on time for copper electrode.

Aluminum electrode wear ratio

2.75

2.50
Wear ratio
2.25
600
2.00

400
Pulse on time micro secs
5.0
7.5 200
10.0
12.5
Current A

Fig. 8. Relationship between WR with current and

pulse on time for aluminum electrode.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

 Experimental Investigation on Electrical Discharge Machining of Titanium . . . . 79

5. Conclusions
By analysing the results of the experiments on titanium grade 2 with different
electrode materials, the following conclusions are arrived at:
• Higher MRR is obtained using brass and aluminum electrode.
• The MRR, EWR and SR increased when the current increased.
• Brass electrode offer high electrode wear while aluminum and copper
electrode offers low electrode wear.
• It is also observed that the thermal conductivity of electrode material plays a
major role in electrode wear. Copper electrode undergoes less wear compared
to brass electrode because higher thermal conductivity facilitates rapid heat
transfer through the body of the electrode.
• It is also absorbed that the higher melting point of electrode material will be
the lower electrode wear.
An attempt has been made to correlate (Tm/k) of various workpiece material
which machining by using copper, brass and aluminium electrodes. It is found that
the MRR decreases exponentially with respect to (Tm/k) of the workpiece material.
In future, this analysis will be made on EDM and micro-EDM by using
different electrode and workpiece materials. Because, only limited works were
carried out in this area.

References
1. Assarzadesh, S.; and Ghoreishi, M. (2007). Neural-network-based modeling
and optimization of the electro-discharge machining process. The International
Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 39(5-6), 488-500.
2. Hasçalık, A.; and Çaydaş, U. (2007). Electrical discharge machining of
titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V). Applied Surface Science, 253(22), 9007-9016.
3. Yan, B.H.; Tsai, H.C.; and Huang, F.Y. (2005). The effect in EDM of a
dielectric of a urea solution in water on modifying the surface of titanium.
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture, 45(2), 194-200.
4. Pradhan, B.B.; Masanta, M.; Sarkar, B.R.; and Bhattacharyya, B. (2007).
Investigation of electro-discharge micro-machining of titanium super alloy.
The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 41(11-12),
1094-1106.
5. Bozdana, A.T.; Yilmaz, O.; Okka, M.A.; Filiz, i.H. (2009). A comparative
experimental study on fast hole EDM of Inconel 718 and Ti-6AL-4V. 5th
International Conferences and Exhibition Design and Production of
MACHINES and DIES/ MOULDS, Aydin, Turkey.
6. Tosun, N.; and Ozler, L. (2004) Optimization for hot EDM operations with
multiple performance characteristics. The International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, 23(11-12), 777-782.
7. Shankar, S.; Maheswari, S.; and Pondey, P.C. (2004). Some investigation
into the electric discharge machining of hardened tool steel using different
electrode materials. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 149(1-3),
272–277.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)

80 S. Dhanabalan et al.

8. Mandal, D.; Pal, S.K.; and Saha, P. (2007). Modeling of electrical discharge
machining process using back propagation neural network and malt–
objective optimization using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II.
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 186(1-3), 154-162.
9. Wang, K.; Gelgele, H.L.; Wang, Y.; Yuan, Q.; and Fan, M. (2003). A hybrid
intelligent method for modeling the EDM process. International Journal of
Machine Tool & Manufacture, 43(10), 995-999.
10. Ho, K.H.; and Newman, S.T. (2003). State of the art electrical discharge
machining (EDM). International Journal of Machine Tool & Manufacture,
43(13), 1287-1300.
11. Krishna, M.R.G.; Rangajanardhaa, G.; Hanumantha, R.D.; Srinivasa, R.M.
(2008). Development of hybrid model and optimization of surface roughness
in electrical discharge machine using artificial neural network and genetic
algorithm. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 209(3), 1512-1520.
12. Khan, A.A. (2007). Electrode wear and material removal rate during EDM of
aluminum and mild steel using copper and brass electrodes. The International
Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 39(5-6), 482-487.
13. Chiang, K.-T. (2007). Modeling and analysis of the machining parameters
characteristics in the EDM of Al2O3+TiC mixed ceramic. The International
Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 37(5-6), 523-533.
14. Kuppan, P.; Rajadurai, A.; Narayanan, S. (2007). Influence of EDM process
parameters in deep hole drilling of Inconel 718. The International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 38(1-2), 74-84.
15. Kibria, G.; Sarkar, B.R.; Pradhan, B.B.; and Bhattacharyya, B. (2010).
Comparative study of different dielectrics for micro-EDM performance
during microhole machining of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 48(5-8), 557-570.
16. Kao, J.Y.; Tsao, C.C.; Wang, S.S.; and Hsu. C.Y. (2010). Optimization of the
EDM parameters on machining Ti–6Al–4V with multiple quality
characteristics. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Tech-
nology, 47(1-4), 395-402.
17. Azad, M.S., and Puri, A.B. (2012). Simultaneous optimisation of multiple
performance characteristics in micro-EDM drilling of titanium alloy. The
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 61(9-12),
1231-1239.
18. Rahman, M.M. (2012). Modeling of machining parameters of Ti-6Al-4V for
electric discharge machining: A neural network approach. Scientific Research
and Essays, 7(8), 881-890.
19. Otsuka, F.; Kataoka, Y.; and Miyazaki, T. (2012). Enhanced osteoblast
response to electrical discharge machining surface. Dental Materials Journal,
31(2), 309-315.

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology January 2015, Vol. 10(1)