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Study of surface integrity and machining performance during main/rough cut and trim/finish cut mode of WEDM on Ti–6Al–4V: effects of wire material

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Abstract

Due to increased demand of dimensional accuracy and high precision of manufactured parts, wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) became very popular, especially for ‘difficult-to-cut’ materials like titanium alloys. Grade 5 Ti alloy (Ti–6Al–4V) has enormous application in aerospace and biomedical fields. WEDM performance of Ti–6Al–4V is somewhat restricted due to its poor thermal conductivity, formation of hard and brittle carbide-/oxide-rich layer and often surface cracking which affect fatigue performance of the part product. Therefore, multi-cut strategy is adapted to mitigate machining-induced defects. The multi-cut mode consists of one main/rough cut followed by a number of trim/finish cuts. Aspects of surface integrity of the WEDMed Ti–6Al–4V obtained in different modes of cut are delineated in this reporting. Three slots are produced: (1) main cut; (2) main cut followed by one trim cut; and (3) main cut followed by two trim cuts using uncoated brass wire and zinc-coated brass wire, respectively. Surface morphology along with topographical features including roughness average, crack density, recast layer thickness, material immigration, residual stress and micro-indentation hardness is studied. Results obtained thereof are analysed with relevance to kerf width, material removal rate and wire wear.

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Acknowledgements

Authors gratefully acknowledge the support rendered by Dr. Francisco Ricardo Cunha, Editor-In-Chief, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (BMSE). Special thank goes to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable constructive comments and suggestions to prepare the paper a good contributor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, 769008, India

    Thrinadh Jadam, Saurav Datta & Manoj Masanta

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  1. Thrinadh Jadam
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Correspondence to Saurav Datta.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Figs. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32.

Fig. 27
figure 27

Experimental set-up

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Fig. 28
figure 28

Measurement of average kerf width for the slot produced through trim cut in two steps (MC + TC1 + TC2) using coated wire

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Fig. 29
figure 29

Roughness profile of the machined surface

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Fig. 30
figure 30

Measurement of SCD: WEDMed surface obtained in MC using uncoated wire \({\text{SCD}} = \frac{{\sum\nolimits_{i = 1}^{n} {L_{i} } }}{A} = \frac{{\sum\nolimits_{i = 1}^{n} {L_{i} } }}{L \times B} = \frac{{0.10 \times 10^{ - 3} }}{0.06 \times 0.04} = 0.0416\,\upmu{\text{m}}/\upmu{\text{m}}^{2}\)

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Fig. 31
figure 31

Measurement of RLT: WEDMed surface obtained in (MC + TC1) using coated wire \({\text{RLT}} = \frac{A}{L} = \frac{350.838}{82.051}\frac{{\upmu{\text{m}}^{2} }}{{\upmu{\text{m}}}} = 4.275\,\upmu{\text{m}}\)

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Fig. 32
figure 32

Optical micrograph exhibiting micro-indentations made of the WEDMed specimen obtained using coated wire in MC

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1.1 Calculation of MRR

1.1.1 Workpiece/electrode: Ti–6Al–4V/Zn-coated brass wire

$$\begin{aligned} {\text{MRR}}\,{\text{for}}\,{\text{MC}} & = {\text{Kerf}}\,{\text{width}} \times t \times V_{\text{c}} \,\left( {{\text{mm}}^{3} /{ \hbox{min} }} \right) \\ & = 279.649 \times 5 \times \left( {\left( {6 \times 60} \right)/73} \right) \times 10^{ - 3} \\ & = 6.895\,{\text{mm}}^{3} / {\text{min}} \\ \end{aligned}$$
$$\begin{aligned} {\text{MRR}}\,{\text{for}}\,\left( {{\text{MC}} + {\text{TC}}1} \right) & = {\text{average}}\,{\text{of}}\,{\text{MRR}}\,{\text{during}}\,{\text{MC}}\,{\text{and}}\,{\text{TC}}1 \\ & \quad ({\text{considering}}\,{\text{constant}}\,{\text{kerf}}\,{\text{width}} \\ & \quad {\text{during}}\,{\text{MC}}\,{\text{in}}\,{\text{all}}\,{\text{operations}}; \\ & \quad {\text{and}}\,{\text{ignoring}}\,{\text{effect}}\,{\text{of}}\,{\text{wire}}\,{\text{diameter}}) \\ & = \left[ {\left( {279.649 \times 5 \times (6 \times 60 \div 75)} \right)} \right. \\ & \quad \left. { + ((318.596 - 279.649) \times 5 \times (6 \times 60 \div 30))} \right] \times \frac{{10^{ - 3} }}{2} \\ & = 4.524\,{\text{mm}}^{3} /{ \hbox{min} } \\ \end{aligned}$$
$$\begin{aligned} & {\text{MRR}}\,{\text{for}}\,\left( {{\text{MC}} + {\text{TC}}1 + {\text{TC}}2} \right) \\ & \quad = {\text{average}}\,{\text{of}}\,{\text{MRR}}\,{\text{during}}\,{\text{MC}},{\text{TC}}1,\,{\text{and}}\,{\text{TC2}}\,({\text{considering}}\,{\text{constant}}\,{\text{kerf}}\,{\text{width}}\,{\text{during}} \\ & \quad \quad {\text{MC}},{\text{and}}\,{\text{TC}}1\,{\text{in}}\,{\text{all}}\,{\text{operations}};\,{\text{and}}\,{\text{ignoring}}\,{\text{effect}}\,{\text{of}}\,{\text{wire}}\,{\text{diameter}}) \\ & \quad = \frac{{\left[ {(279.649 \times 5 \times (6 \times 60 \div 73)) + ((318.596 - 279.649) \times 5 \times (6 \times 60 \div 30)) + ((329.824 - 318.596) \times 5 \times (6 \times 60 \div 28))} \right] \times 10^{ - 3} }}{3} \\ & \quad = 3.317\,{\text{mm}}^{3} /{ \hbox{min} } \\ \end{aligned}$$

D: wire diameter; DMR: depth of material removed; WOR: predicted wire offset in RC; WO: wire offset in TC; OC1: overcut in RC; OC2: overcut in TC; Dww: gap between wire periphery and work surface during TC.

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Jadam, T., Datta, S. & Masanta, M. Study of surface integrity and machining performance during main/rough cut and trim/finish cut mode of WEDM on Ti–6Al–4V: effects of wire material. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 41, 151 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-019-1656-4

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