Journal of Materials Processing Technology 191 (2007) 141144

Examination of machining parameters on surface roughness in EDM of tool steel

M. Kiyak a, , O. Cakr b
a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, 34349 Istanbul, Turkey b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dicle University, 21280 Diyarbakir, Turkey

Abstract Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is one of the important non-traditional machining processes and it is widely accepted as a standard machining process in the manufacture of forming tools to produce molds and dies. Since its introduction to manufacturing industry in late 1940s, EDM became a well-known machining method. The method is based on removing material from a workpiece by means of a series of repeated electrical discharges, produced by electric pulse generators at short intervals, between an electrode (tool) and a part being machined in dielectric uid medium. This paper is devoted to a study of the inuences of EDM parameters on surface roughness for machining of 40CrMnNiMo864 tool steel (AISI P20) which is widely used in the production of plastic mold and die. The selected EDM parameters were pulsed current (8, 16 and 24 A), pulse time (2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 100 s) and pulse pause time (2 and 3 s). It was observed that surface roughness of workpiece and electrode were inuenced by pulsed current and pulse time, higher values of these parameters increased surface roughness. Lower current, lower pulse time and relatively higher pulse pause time produced a better surface nish. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: EDM; Tool steel; Current; Surface roughness

1. Introduction Electric discharge machining (EDM) is one of the most popular non-traditional material removal processes and has became a basic machining method for the manufacturing industries of aerospace, automotive, nuclear, medical and die-mold production. The theory of the process was established by two Soviet scientists B.R. and N.I. Lazarenko in the middle of 1940s. They invented the relaxation circuit and a simple servo controller tool that helped to maintain the gap width between the tool and the workpiece. This reduced arcing and made EDM machining more protable and produced rst EDM machine in 1950s. Major development of EDM was observed when computer numerical control systems were applied for the machine tool industry. Thus, the EDM process became automatic and unattended machining method [1]. The process uses thermal energy to generate heat that melts and vaporizes the workpiece by ionization within the dielectric

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: kiyak@yildiz.edu.tr (M. Kiyak), ocakir@dicle.edu.tr (O. Cakr). 0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.03.008

medium. The electrical discharges generate impulsive pressure by dielectric explosion to remove the melted material. Thus, the amount of removed material can be effectively controlled to produce complex and precise machine components. However, the melted material is ushed away incompletely and the remaining material resolidies to form discharge craters. As a result, machined surface has microcracks and pores caused by high temperature gradient which reduces surface nish quality. There have been many published studies considering surface nish of machined materials by EDM. It was noticed that various machining parameters inuenced surface roughness and setting possible combination of these parameters was difcult to produce optimum surface quality. The inuences of some machining parameters such as pulsed current [29], pulse time [26,8,9], pulse pause time [2,5,9], voltage [4,6], dielectric liquid pressure [4,6,8,10] and electrode material [11] have been examined. One study examined P20 tool steel and provided useful information the effects of some machining parameters on surface roughness, but the selected of pulsed current values was very low 18 A [12]. The present study examines the effects of pulsed current, pulse time and pulse pause time on surface roughness in the 40CrMnNiMo864 tool steel (AISI P20) tool steel.

142 Table 1 Properties of workpiece material

M. Kiyak, O. Cakr / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 191 (2007) 141144

Chemical composition (%) C 0.37 Hardness Elasticity module (E) Thermal conductivity Cr 2 Mn 1.4 Mo 0.2 Ni 1 S Max. 0.01 Si 0.3

290341 HB 205 GPa 29 W/m K

2. Experimental procedures
The experimental study was carried out on AJAN EDM 982 machine. The dielectric liquid was a brand of Cuttex Fel Ultra. The viscosity of dielectric uid was 2.22.7 at 40 C and the lightning point was 105 C/min. The selected workpiece material was 40CrMnNiMo864 (AISI P20) that was widely used in die and mold manufacturing industry. The properties of workpiece material were presented in Table 1. The workpiece specimen was prepared 20 mm 70 mm 315 mm of dimension and the surfaces of workpiece were milled and nish ground before EDM method application. The possible more inuential machining parameters were selected according to literature review. The list of selected machining parameter values was given in Table 2. A cylindrical pure copper with a diameter of 22 mm was used as an electrode which was nish ground before experimental study. It was mounted axially in line with workpiece. The surface roughness of the machined surface was measured by using Taylor Hobson Surtonic 3+ surface test equipment. The surface roughness, which is measured by central line average (Ra ) was employed to asses the quality of the machine surface quantitatively. Each surface roughness value was obtained by averaging ve measurements at various positions of workpiece and electrode surfaces for each machining condition. The surface measurement lter of this equipment was 2CR type. The cut-off length was set as 2.5 mm. The evaluation length was selected as the maximum value which was 2.5 mm. Stylus type was diamond with 5 m radius. Table 2 Parameters of examinations Number of test 1 Pulsed current (A) Pulse time ( s) Pulse pause time ( s) Surface roughness (Ra ) (workpiece) Surface roughness (Ra ) (electrode) 8 2 2 1.8 1.8 2 8 4 2 3.8 2.2 3 8 6 2 5.3 2.6 4 8 12 2 5.7 3.0 5 8 24 2 7.2 3.1

Fig. 1. Effects of pulse time and pulsed current on surface roughness of workpiece (2 s pulse pause time).

3. Experimental results and discussion First part of the experimental study carried out for machined workpiece surface nish quality. Fig. 1 gives the experimental result of surface roughness when 2 s pulse pause time was used with different pulsed current and pulse times. It was observed that surface roughness increased when higher pulse time was used. Similar result was noticed for pulse current values, higher currents produced poor surface nish. When pulse pause time increased from 2 to 3 s, similar results were obtained (Fig. 2). Higher pulse time and pulsed current produced poor surface nish. However, up to certain pulse time (6 s), surface roughness was different comparing to 2 s pulse pause time results. For the same machining conditions, surface roughness was 23 m for 2 s pulse pause time and 6 m for 3 s pulse pause time. Pulsed current showed a similar trend, increasing current gave high surface roughness.

6 8 48 2 8.1 3.3

7 8 100 2 8.7 3.4

8 8 3 3 1.8 2.1

9 8 4 3 2.4 2.6

10 8 12 3 5.0 3.0

11 8 24 3 6.3 3.1

12 8 48 3 8.0 3.2

13 8 100 3 8.9 3.3

Number of test 1 Pulsed current (A) Pulse time ( s) Pulse pause time ( s) Surface roughness (Ra ) (workpiece) Surface roughness (Ra ) (electrode) 16 2 2 2.5 2.2 2 16 4 2 5.0 3.4 3 16 6 2 6.4 3.6 4 16 12 2 6.7 3.7 5 16 24 2 8.4 4.3 6 16 48 2 9.3 4.6 7 16 10 2 10.4 4.7 8 16 3 3 2.3 2.5 9 16 4 3 3.0 3.0 10 16 12 3 5.7 3.8 11 16 24 3 7.0 3.9 12 16 48 3 8.6 4.3 13 16 100 3 10.1 4.3

Number of test 1 Pulsed current (A) Pulse time ( s) Pulse pause time ( s) Surface roughness (Ra ) (workpiece) Surface roughness (Ra ) (electrode) 16 2 2 3.1 3.0 2 16 4 2 5.2 3.5 3 24 6 2 6.7 3.6 4 24 12 2 8.5 3.9 5 24 24 2 9.4 4.4 6 24 48 2 9.7 4.7 7 24 100 3 11.3 4.8 8 24 3 3 3.0 3.0 9 24 4 3 3.2 3.1 10 24 12 3 6.6 3.8 11 24 24 3 7.5 4.2 12 24 48 3 9.0 4.4 13 24 100 3 10.9 4.4

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Fig. 2. Effects of pulse time and pulsed current on surface roughness of workpiece (3 s pulse pause time).

Fig. 4. Effects of pulse time and pulsed current on surface roughness of electrode (3 s pulse pause time).

Surface nish quality was better when applying smaller pulsed current and pulse time. This is because of small particle size and crater depths formed by electrical discharge. As a result, the best surface nish will be produced. The selection of these machining parameters for EDM of any material should be used for a higher surface quality is required. It was observed that when pulsed current and particularly pulse time increased, machined workpiece surface exhibited a higher surface roughness due to irregular topography. Pulsed current had an effect on surface roughness at low pulse time, but the inuence of pulse time was more signicant than pulsed current at higher pulse times. It was noticed that excellent machined surface quality could be obtained by setting machining parameters at a low pulse current and short pulse time. This combination will unfortunately produce low material removal rate and cause high machining time, in total high machining cost. When high material removal rates are needed, high pulsed current and pulse times should be selected. However, this selection will produce a poor surface nish due to deeper and wider crates on the machined surface. There is also an inuence on dielectric uid at high pulsed current; the properties will be lost because of high temperature. Second stage of the experimental study considered to examine the surface roughness of electrode. The bottom surface of the electrode, which is continuously contacted to workpiece, was investigated. For the same machining conditions, the experimental results were given in Figs. 3 and 4. Low pulse times and pulsed currents provided a better surface quality for both duration times. It was observed that pulse pause time was an inuential parameter; 2 s of pulse pause time pro-

vided better surface quality comparing to 3 s of pulse pause time. Similar surface roughness results were noticed for electrode surface roughness. It was observed that the surface roughness of electrode was better when applying smaller pulsed current and pulse time. When pulsed current and pulse time increased, electrode surface presented a higher surface roughness. Pulsed current had an effect on surface roughness of electrode at low pulse time, but the inuence of pulse time was more signicant than pulsed current at higher pulse times. The effect of pulse pause time was insignicant. 4. Conclusion The experimental study of the EDM of 40CrMnNiMo864 tool steel (AISI P20) tool steel provided important quantitative results for obtaining possible high surface nish quality and machining outputs as follows: a. Surface roughness increased with increasing pulsed current and pulse time. Low current and pulse time with high pulse pause time produced minimum surface roughness that means good surface nish quality. The selection of these machining parameters is not useful because machining process generally becomes very slow. Material removal rate will be low and thus machining cost increases. This combination should be used in nish machining step of EDM process. b. High pulsed current and pulse time provide low surface nish quality. However, this combination would increase material removal rate and reduce machining cost. As a result, this combination (high pulsed current and pulse time) should be used for rough machining step of EDM process. c. From power point of view, rough and nish machining steps require different level of machine power. For rough EDM application, the machine power should be one-fourth of the produced power with 16 A of current, 6 s of pulse time and 3 s of pulse pause time. Finish machining should be carried out at one-half level of power at 8 A of current as well as 6 s of pulse time and 3 s of pulse pause time. d. Increasing wear on electrode surface is unavoidable during EDM process. Therefore, workpiece surface roughness will be increasing due to wear rate on electrode. e. Wear on electrode surface is unavoidable during EDM process. Surface roughness of machined workpiece would

Fig. 3. Effects of pulse time and pulsed current on surface roughness of electrode (2 s pulse pause time).

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M. Kiyak, O. Cakr / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 191 (2007) 141144 [4] S.H. Lee, X.P. Li, Study of the effect of machining parameters on the machining characteristics in electrical discharge machining of tungsten carbide, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 115 (2001) 344358. [5] H.S. Halkac, A. Erden, Experimental investigation of surface roughness in electric discharge machining (EDM), in: Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Conference (ESDA 2002), Istanbul, Turkey, 2002, pp. 16. [6] S.H. Lee, X. Li, Study of the surface integrity of the machined workpiece in the EDM of tungsten carbide, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 139 (2003) 315321. [7] Y.H. Guu, H. Hocheng, C.Y. Chou, C.S. Deng, Effect of electrical discharge machining on surface characteristics and machining damage of AISI D2 tool steel, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 358 (2003) 3743. [8] C. Co un, B. Kocabas, A. Ozgedik, Experimental and theoretical investi g gation of workpiece surface roughness prole in EDM, J. Fac. Eng. Arch. 19 (2004) 97106 (in Turkish). [9] Y. Keskin, H.S. Halkac, M. Kzl, An experimental study for determination of the effects of machining parameters on surface roughness in electrical discharge machining (EDM), Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Tech. 28 (2006) 11181121. [10] A. Ozgedik, C. Co un, An experimental investigation of tool wear in g electric discharge machining, Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Tech. 27 (2006) 488500. [11] S. Singh, S. Maheshwari, P.C. Pandey, Some investigations into the electric discharge machining of hardened tool steel using different electrode materials, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 149 (2004) 272277. [12] F.L. Amorim, W.L. Weingaertner, The inuence of generator actuation mode and process parameters on the performance of nish EDM of a tool steel, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 166 (2005) 411416.

increase when surface quality of electrode decreases due to pulsed current density. f. For the same pulse pause time, the trends of surface roughness on the workpiece and electrode are similar. Thus, there will be a relation between wear on electrode and increase of surface roughness from workpiece surface quality point of view. Acknowledgements Authors would like to thank two companies (OPAS and ERDEM) for kind encouragement and technical support. They are also thankful to Mech. Eng. Ca atay ACAR for his sincere g help throughout this research. References
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