A STUDY ON CAPABILITIES OF DIFFERENT ELECTRODE MATERIALS DURING ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING (EDM)

Abstract

Electrode material inelectro discharge machining EDM process plays an important role in terms of material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and surface roughness (Ra). The purpose of this research is to investigate the capability of different electrode materials: copper, aluminum and graphite in EDM of AISI 304 stainless steel as a work piece. The research focuses on three current settings: 2.5A, 4.5A and 6.5A using kerosene as dielectric fluid. The experiment is planned and analyzed using full factorial of the experimental design using response surface methodology (RSM). two outputs have been investigated: MRR and EWR. The results indicated that the responses increased with the increase in current. Finally the desirability function method have been used to determine the optimum values. The resulat show that the maximum MRR and  the minimum EWR were achieved by using graphite electrode at current 6.5A.