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Material Removal Rate, Kerf, and Surface Roughness of Tungsten Carbide Machined with Wire Electrical Discharge Machining

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Abstract

In this article, the effects of varying seven different machining parameters in addition to varying the material thickness on the machining responses such as material removal rate, kerf, and surface roughness of tungsten carbide samples machined by wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) were investigated. The design of experiments was based on a Taguchi orthogonal design with 8 control factors with three levels each, requiring a set of 27 experiments that were repeated three times. ANOVA was carried out after obtaining the responses to determine the significant factors. The work piece thickness was expected to have a major effect on the material removal rate but showed to be significant in the case of surface roughness only. Finally, optimization of the machining responses was carried out and models for the material removal rate, kerf, and surface roughness were created. The models were validated through confirmation experiments that showed significant improvements in machining performance for all investigated machining outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan and the Pakistan Navy for having made this research possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

    Aqueel Shah & Nadeem A. Mufti

  2. Precision Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Dinesh Rakwal & Eberhard Bamberg

Authors
  1. Aqueel Shah
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  2. Nadeem A. Mufti
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  3. Dinesh Rakwal
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  4. Eberhard Bamberg
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Correspondence to Eberhard Bamberg.

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Shah, A., Mufti, N.A., Rakwal, D. et al. Material Removal Rate, Kerf, and Surface Roughness of Tungsten Carbide Machined with Wire Electrical Discharge Machining. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 20, 71–76 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-010-9644-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-010-9644-y

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