INFLUENCE OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGED MACHINING AND SURFACE DEFECTS ON THE FATIGUE STRENGTH ELECTRODEPOSITED NANOCRYSTALLINE Ni

Guided by: J.BALA (Proff.)

Submitted by: Shamim Ahmed Khan Regd-0811018155 Mechanical - D

Aim:
To examine the effect of EDM on the fatigue behavior NC Ni as compared with that for a conventional coarser grained Ni.

Introduction :
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is one of the most accurate abrasion less machining methods for manufacturing complex component shapes of hard and brittle materials.

METHODS :

ED NC Ni -30 nm Pure cold-rolled CG Ni -100 micro-meter Ni sheets thickness - 0.5 mm

Specimens were shaped using a Misubishi DWC90C Electrical Discharge Machine with a 0.25 mm diameter brass wire electrode at 80 V, 35 lm/s machining speed,and 34 ms pulse duration.

FATIGUE TEST

RESULTS:

Electron microscopy of as-received specimens

OBSERVATIONS:

Slightly tilted plane-view secondary electron (SE, above) and backscatter electron (BSE, below) images of two EDM affected regions showing (a) surface defects caused by EDM in CG Ni and (b) a roughly uniform distribution of microcracks (arrows) along the edge of a NC Ni specimen.

Surface profile height plotted against distance along a polished and EDM affected edge for both CG Ni and NC Ni.

(a) TEM image showing morphological changes near the EDM edge of a NC Ni specimen. A relatively high dislocation density in the EDM affected region is indicated by an arrow. SAD patterns in (bd) correspond to the regions directly above them in (a).

High magnification TEM image of grain boundaries containing pre-existing microcracks in the EDM affected region of a NC Ni specimen. EDS (insets) revealed higher sulfur concentration within the grain boundaries

Observations following fatigue testing:

Optical micrographs of the crack path in an EDM CG Ni specimen (a) at N ffi 0.80Nf and (b) at failure. A higher magnification image of the boxed crack tip region in (b) is shown in (c).

Scanning electron micrographs of the crack path in an EDM NC Ni specimen(a) at N ffi 0.84Nf and (b) at failure. A higher magnification image of the boxed crack edge region in (b) is shown in (c).

SEM images of (a) fracture surface where crack initiation occurred in a EDM CG Ni specimen and (b) a region at higher magnification of an area indicated by the small rectangle in (a), revealing fatigue striations.

Scanning electron micrographs of a fracture surface (a) containing the crack initiation site at the corner of a EDM NC Ni specimen and (b) a region at higher magnification, in the upper left corner of (a), revealing intergranular features

Representative scanning electron micrographs of crack initiation sites at defects on the fracture surfaces of two polished NC Ni specimens.

FATIGUE DATA:

Maximum stress range versus number of cycles to failure for CG and NC Ni with either EDM or mechanically polished edges. Data points labeled 18 correspond to NC Ni samples with polished edges that exhibited crack initiation at a surface defect observed on the fracture surface. The data points with arrows indicate specimens that did not fail up to 107 loading cycles.

Stress range at the crack initiation site versus longitudinal distance to the specimen midpoint (position of highest stress). Distances corresponding to 80% and 90% of the maximum stress range at the specimen midpoint are indicated by dashed lines. Data points labeled 18 correspond to NC Ni samples with polished edges that exhibited crack initiation at a surface defect observed on the fracture surface.

Stress range at the crack initiation site versus number of cycles to failure for the CG and NC Ni specimens. Data points labeled 18 correspond to NC Ni samples with polished edges that exhibited crack initiation at surface defects observed on fracture surface.

CONCLUSION:
EDM affected zone was only about 15 micrometer deep, roughly corresponding to 1% of the total width of the specimens. EDM led to a 5075% reduction in fatigue strength for NC Ni.

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