International Journal of JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 INTERNATIONALMechanical Volume 4, Issue 1, January

- February (2013) IAEME 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET) ISSN 0976 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 6359 (Online) Volume 4 Issue 1 January- February (2013), pp. 54-65 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 3.8071 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

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INVESTIGATION ON PROCESS RESPONSE AND PARAMETERS IN WIRE ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING OF INCONEL 625
Rodge M. K1, Sarpate S. S2, Sharma S. B3 Research scholars, 3Professor Production Engineering Dept., SGGSIE&T, Nanded, India. (mkrodge64@rediffmail.com)
1&2

ABSTRACT Continuous research in the field of material science leads to production of very hard, tough, high temperature and corrosion resistant materials which are difficult-to machine with conventional methods. Advanced manufacturing processes play an important role in production of complicated profiles on such difficult-to-machine components. Inconel 625 is one of the recent materials developed to have high strength, toughness and corrosion resistant. The high degree of accuracy, fine surface quality and good productivity made wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) a valuable tool in todays manufacturing scenario. The right selection of the machining conditions is the most important aspect to take into consideration in the processes related to WEDM. As electrode wire is not reused, its wear is generally ignored. However, it is interesting to study wire wear as it may have an effect on kerf width and surface quality of the product. The present study is focused on investigation of the effect of process parameters on multiple performance measures such as cutting width, electrode wear and hardness during WEDM of Inconel 625. The control factors considered are: pulse-on time, pulse-off time, upper flush, lower flush, wire feed and wire tension. The relationships between control factors and responses are established by means of regression analysis. The study demonstrates that, there is a good agreement between experimental and predicted (theoretical) values of performance measures. Keywords: Orthogonal array (OR), Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, Taguchis design of experiment (DOE), Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM)
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

1. INTRODUCTION As newer and more exotic materials with requirement of complex shapes are developed, conventional machining operations will continue to reach their limitations. Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is an extremely potential (thermoelectric) process having capacity to machine parts made up of conductive materials regardless of their hardness, toughness and geometry. In WEDM, a series of discrete electrical sparks between the work and tool electrodes immersed in a liquid dielectric medium melt and vaporize minute amounts of the work material which is then ejected and flushed away by the dielectric fluid. Latest WEDMs are assisted by CNC table to produce any complex two and three dimensional profiles on work. Due to high process capability, this method is widely used in manufacturing of car wheels, special gears, various press tools, dies and similar complex and intricate shapes. Hence, the increased use of the WEDM in manufacturing will continue to grow at an accelerated rate. Wire electrical discharge machining manufacturers and users emphasize on achievement of better stability, higher machining productivity along with desired accuracy and surface quality. However, due to involvement of large number of variables, even a highly skilled WEDM operator is rarely able to achieve the optimal performance. Proper selection of process parameters for best process performance is a challenging job. An effective way to attempt this problem is to establish the relationship between performance measures of the process and its controllable input parameters. Optimization of process parameters can play a important role in this regard. In WEDM, the commonly affecting process parameters are ignition pulse current, time between two pulses, pulse duration, servo voltage, wire speed, wire tension and dielectric fluid injection pressure. Any slight variation in one of the parameters can affect the production quality and economics of the process. The parameter settings given by manufacturers are only applicable for commonly used steel grades and alloys. The important performance measures in WEDM are metal removal rate (MRR), cutting width (kerf) and surface quality. In WEDM operations, MRR determines the economics of machining and rate of production where as kerf denotes degree of precision and dimensional accuracy. The internal corner radius to be produced is limited by the kerf. The gap between the electrode wire and work usually ranges from 0.025 to 0.075 mm and it is constantly maintained by a computer controlled positioning system. In setting the machining parameters, particularly in rough cutting operation, the goal is twofold: the maximization of MRR and minimization of kerf. Konda R. et al. [1999] classified the various potential factors affecting the WEDM performance measures into five major categories: the different properties of work material, dielectric fluid, machine characteristics, adjustable machining parameters and component geometry. They have applied the design of experiments (DOE) technique to study and optimize the possible effects of variables and validated the experimental results using noiseto-signal (S/N) ratio analysis. Different areas of WEDM research identified by Ho K. H. et al. [2004] are: such as process optimization, process monitoring and control. The settings for the various process parameters play a crucial role in producing an optimal machining performance. The application of adaptive control systems to the WEDM is vital for the monitoring and control of the process. The authors have investigated the advanced monitoring and control systems including the fuzzy, the wire breakage and the self-tuning adaptive control systems used in WEDM process. Cabanes I. et al. [2008] analyzed new
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

symptoms that allow us to predict wire breakage. Symptoms may be increase in discharge energy, peak current, increase/decrease in ignition delay time. They have proposed a novel wire breakage monitoring and diagnostic system with virtual instrumentation system (VIS) that measures relevant magnitudes and diagnostic system (DS) that detect new quality cutting regimes and predicts wire breakage. Almost in 80% of total wire breakage cases, the anticipation time longer than 50 ms has been detected. Efficiency of supervision system has been quantified to 82%. Parashar Vishal et al. [2010] analyzed kerf width of wire cut electro discharge machining of SS304L steel using DOE technique. They have used statistical methods and regression analysis for finding kerf width. Mixed OR of L32 is used for experimentation. ANOVA is used to find out the variables affecting kerf width more significantly. Results show that pulseon time and dielectric flushing pressure are the most significant factor to the kerf width. Theoretical and experimental results appeared to be in good agreement. Mohammadreza Shabgard et al. [2011] used 3D finite element for prediction of the white layer thickness, heat affected zone (HAZ) and surface roughness (SR) of electro discharge machined AISI H13 tool steel. They carried out experimental investigations to validate the numerical results. Both numerical and experimental results show that increasing the pulse-on time leads to a higher white layer thickness, depth of HAZ and surface roughness and increase in the pulse current slightly decrease the white layer thickness and depth of HAZ with increase in SR. Experimental and numerical results are closer to each other. Manoj Malik et al. [2012] have carried out optimization of process parameters of WEDM using Zinc-coated brass wire for MRR, electrode wear rate (EWR) and SR. They observed that, for minimum EWR, pulse-on time and pulse peak current should be high. For EWR, pulse peak current is the most critical factor and duty cycle time is the least significant parameter. From the literature it is found that, most of the authors have studied the effect process parameters on different response variables while WEDM of commonly used materials like, die steel, EN31, AISI H13 steel, etc. Studies on WEDM of Inconel 625 are scantly available. Inconel 625 is recently coming up as one of best candidate materials which is extensively used in various applications including: marine, aerospace, chemical processing, nuclear reactors and pollution control equipments. It is used in any environment that requires resistance to heat and corrosion retaining mechanical properties. It is an alloy having excellent corrosion resistance in a wide range of corrosive media being especially resistant to pitting and crevice. It is a favorable choice for sea water applications. Therefore, it is interesting to study the effect of control parameters on work as well as electrode materials. The studies about effect of control factors on hardness of work material is important as it is one of the most critical parameter in relation to wear and tear of components made out of WEDM. 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Taguchi Method Generally, the machine tool builder provides information in the form of tables to be used for setting machining parameters. The selection of process parameter relies heavily on the experience of the operators. With a view to alleviate this difficulty, a simple but reliable method based on statistically designed experiments is suggested for investigating the effects of various process parameters and to get optimal process settings. This new experimental strategy proposed by Genichi Taguchi is called Taguchi method. It is a powerful
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

experimental design tool which uses simple, effective and systematic approach for deriving the optimal levels of machining parameters. This approach efficiently reduces the effect of the sources of variation. It requires minimum experimental cost due to reduction in number of experiments required to meet the specific requirements in terms of quality and reliability. It uses specially constructed tables known as orthogonal arrays (OA). Each row represents a set of parameters for a particular experiment. This is a best way to study the effect of large number of variables on desired quality characteristics with small number of experiments. 2.2 Design of Experiment To evaluate the effects of machining parameters on performance characteristics (kerf, wire wear and hardness of machined surface) a specially designed experimental procedure is required. In this study, the Taguchi method, a powerful tool for parameter design of the performance characteristics is used to determine optimal machining parameters for minimum of kerf, minimum wire wear and higher hardness of the machined surface. Six control factors with five levels each and three response variables are used to get qualitative results. The control factors represent stability in design of manufacturing process whereas the noise factors denote all factors that cause variation. Table 1 shows six parameters with five levels each. This may increase number of experiments to be carried out. However, it may help in getting a good relationship between input and output parameters. Based on Taguchi method we use L25 orthogonal array (obtained using Minitab 16 software) as shown in Table 2. The experiments are performed as per orthogonal array which has 25 rows indicating 25 of experiments. The results are shown in Table 2. The kerf is measured with the help of a microscope. The loss in weight of electrode wire per meter length is determined by subtracting final weight from initial weight of the wire. The hardness of machined surface is measured with the help of hardness tester. Table 1: Parameters and their levels Factors Pulse-on time (Ton) Pulse-off time (Toff) Wire Feed (WF) Upper Flush (UF) Lower Flush (LF) Wire Tension (WT) level 1 3 3 6 6 6 60 level 2 4 4 7 7 7 70 level 3 5 5 8 8 8 800 level 4 6 6 9 9 9 900 level 5 7 7 10 10 10 1000 Unit s s mm/s kg/cm2 kg/cm2 kg

2.3 Experimental set-up The inputs used in the present study are chosen through review of literature, experience and some preliminary investigations. Each time an experiment was performed, a particular set of input parameters was chosen. The work piece is a block of Inconel 625 with length 100 mm width 30 mm thickness 10 mm. The workpiece material composition is tested at ICS, Pune. Its percentage composition is: C - 0.035, Mn - 0.130, Si - 0.247, S 0.010, P - 0.0064, Cr - 22.86, Ni 58.1, Mo - 8.55, W - <0.0050, V - <0.0005, Al - 0.144, Co - 0.072, Cu - 0.022, Nb - 3.24, Ti - 2.98, Fe- 3.60. A brass wire of 0.25 mm diameter is used as an electrode for experimentation and it is discarded once used. The cuts of 10 mm
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

depth along the length of the work are taken. The experiments are performed on Maxicute WEDM (Figure 1). The machine allows operator to choose input parameters according to geometry and material of electrodes from a manual provided by the WEDM manufacturer.

Figure 1: Maxicut-e WEDM 2.4 Signal-To-Noise Ratio In signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio signal represents the desirable value (mean for output parameters) and noise represents undesirable value (the square deviation of output parameters). Thus, it is the ratio of mean to square deviation. It is designated by symbol with unit of dB. The characteristic for which the lower value represents better performance, the S/N ratio should be smaller the better (SB) and the characteristic for which the large value represents better performance, the S/N ratio should be larger the better (LB). In this study the parameters kerf and wire wear should have lower values and hardness of the machined surface should have larger values. The loss function (L) for kerf width, wire wear and hardness is defined as: LSB = kerf LSB =
ww

LLB = 1/ hv where Ykerf, Yww and Yhv are the responses for kerf width, wire wear and hardness respectively and n denotes the number of experiments. The S/N ratios can be calculated as a logarithmic transformation of the loss function as shown below. S/N ratio for kerf width = -10 log10 (LSB) i) S/N ratio for wire wear = -10 log10 (LSB) ii) S/N ratio for hardness = -10 log10 (LLB) iii) The analysis is done using the popular software specifically used for design of experiment applications known as MINITAB 16. The S/N ratio for kerf width, wire wear and hardness is computed using Eqs. i), ii) and iii) respectively for each treatment as shown in Table 2. Then, overall mean for S/N ratios of kerf width, wire wear and hardness are calculated as average of all treatment responses for each level (Table 3, 4 and 5). The graphical representation of the effect of the six control factors on kerf width, wire wear and hardness is shown in Figure 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

Table 2: Orthogonal array, experimental results for kerf width (KW), wire wear (WW) and hardness (HV) of WEDMed surface along with S/N ratios S.N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Ton 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 Tof 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 U 6 7 8 9 10 7 8 9 10 6 8 9 10 6 7 9 10 6 7 8 10 6 7 8 9 L 6 7 8 9 10 8 9 10 6 7 10 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 6 9 10 6 7 8 W 6 7 8 9 10 9 10 6 7 8 7 8 9 10 6 10 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 6 7 WT 600 700 800 900 100 100 600 700 800 900 900 100 600 700 800 800 900 100 600 700 700 800 900 100 600 KW 0.33 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0 31 0.30 0.35 0.30 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.34 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.28 0.33 0.33 0.30 0.29 0.29 0.32 0.31 S/N WW S/N 9.6297 0.01 40.000 9.8970 0.01 40.000 9.6297 0.03 30.457 9.3704 0.01 40.000 9.1186 0.03 30.457 10.172 0.01 40.000 10.457 0.01 40.000 9.1186 0.03 30.457 10.457 0.02 33.979 10.172 0.02 33.979 10.457 0.03 30.457 10.752 0.02 33.979 11.056 0.03 30.457 9.3704 0.04 27.958 10.457 0.02 33.979 10.752 0.03 30.457 11.056 0.01 40.000 11.056 0.02 33.979 9.6297 0.03 30.457 9.6297 0.02 33.979 10.457 0.05 26.020 10.752 0.01 40.000 10.752 0.01 40.000 9.8970 0.01 40.000 10.172 0.02 26.020 HV 310 312 286 301 331 325 325 295 276 311 325 341 296 290 325 301 309 299 311 309 297 310 298 295 290 S/N 49.827 49.883 49.127 49.571 50.396 50.237 50.237 49.396 48.818 49.855 50.237 50.655 49.425 49.248 50.237 49.571 49.799 49.513 49.855 49.799 49.455 49.827 49.484 49.396 49.248

Table 3: Response Table for S/N ratios (smaller the better) for kerf width Level 1 2 3 4 5 Delta Rank Ton 9.529 10.076 10.419 10.425 10.406 0.8960 1 Toff 10.294 10.583 10.323 9.7450 9.9100 0.8380 2 UF 10.196 10.182 10.014 10.033 10.429 0.4150 5 LF 10.244 10.355 10.081 10.360 9.8150 0.5450 4 WF 10.032 10.408 10.128 10.196 10.090 0.3760 6 WT 10.189 9.6950 10.410 10.362 10.199 0.7150 3

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

Table 4: Response Table for S/N ratios (smaller the better) for wire wear Level 1 2 3 4 5 Delta Rank Ton 36.18 35.68 31.37 33.77 36.00 4.82 4 Toff 33.39 38.80 33.07 34.48 33.28 5.73 2 UF 35.18 36.89 34.98 33.77 32.18 4.70 5 LF 36.39 34.98 34.48 34.80 32.37 4.02 6 WF 36.89 34.48 30.98 36.89 33.77 5.91 1 WT 34.98 31.68 33.77 36.89 35.68 5.20 3

Table 5: Response Table for S/N ratios (larger the better) for hardness Level 1 2 3 4 5 Delta Rank Ton 49.76 49.71 49.96 49.71 49.48 0.48 3 Toff 49.67 50.08 49.39 49.38 49.91 0.70 1 UF 49.65 49.94 49.76 49.69 49.58 0.36 5 LF 49.72 49.63 49.53 49.80 49.94 0.41 4 WF 49.73 49.54 49.78 49.77 49.79 0.25 6 WT 49.72 49.56 49.52 49.79 50.04 0.52 2

Figure 2: Graphs for kerf width

Figure 3: Graphs for wire wear

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

Figure 4: Graphs for hardness of WEDMed surface

Table 6: Experimental and Predicted values of kerf width (KW), wire wear (WW) and hardness (HV) PW EH PHV 0.016 310 304.00 0 0.020 312 308.00 0 0.024 286 311.10 0 0.028 301 314.20 0 0.032 331 317.30 0 0.017 325 322.24 8 0.036 325 309.44 8 0.026 295 306.44 8 0.027 276 298.74 8 0.020 311 308.00 8 0.020 325 317.00 6 0.021 341 309.88 6 0.040 296 297.00 6 0.033 290 306.68 6 0.023 325 303.00 6 0.034 301 308.00 4 0.024 309 305.00 4 0.017 299 314.00 4 0.036 311 302.00 4 0.037 309 294.00 4 0.037 297 303.00 2 0.030 310 313.16 2 0.031 298 305.00 2 0.021 295 302.00 2 0.040 290 289.66 0 where E = Experimental, P = Predicted values from regression analysis
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S. N. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

EKW 0.33 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.31 0.30 0.35 0.30 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.34 0.30 0.29 0.28 0.28 0.33 0.33 0.30 0.29 0.29 0.32 0.31

PKW 0.3138 0.3166 0.3258 0.3300 0.3378 0.3000 0.3200 0.3200 0.3100 0.3200 0.2800 0.2900 0.3100 0.3200 0.3200 0.2880 0.2900 0.3000 0.3210 0.3100 0.2800 0.2900 0.2800 0.2900 0.3100

EW 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

The regression analysis is used for modeling the responses in terms of process variables. The regression equations are obtained by using Minitab software. Regression equation for kerf width KW = 0.318 - 0.00760Ton + 0.00580Toff - 0.00100UF +0 .00320LF + 0.00040WF -0.000024WT Regression equation for wire wear WW = - 0.0098 + 0.00200Ton + 0.00140Toff + 0.00220UF + 0.00060LF + 0.00280WF -0.000030 WT Regression equation for hardness of machined surface HV = 286 -2.06Ton - 2.16Toff - 1.30UF + 2.16LF + 1.22WF + 0.0318WT From these equations, the predicted (theoretical) values of kerf width, wire wear and machined surface hardness are determined manually for all set of parameters. Table 6 shows experimental and predicted values for above said process responses. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The purpose of the experimentation is to identify the factors which have strong effects on the machining performance. From mean of S/N ratios (Table 3) for kerf width, it is found that pulse-on time has highest rank 1. Therefore, it has most significant effect on kerf width. As pulse-on time increases the kerf width increases significantly. The wire feed has least effect on kerf width. The order of other influencing parameters for kerf width is: pulse-off time, wire tension, lower flush and upper flush. Also, from mean of S/N ratios (Table 4) for wire wear, it is observed that, the wire feed has highest rank 1 and therefore, it affects wire wear significantly. The wire wear initially decreases significantly with increase in wire feed; however it increases with further rise in wire feed. This may be due the combined effect of other factors. The lower flush has least effect on wire wear. The order of other influencing parameters for wire wear is: pulse-off time, wire tension, pulse-on time and upper flush. Table 5 shows that, for hardness of the machined surface, the pulse-off time has highest rank 1 and hence, it affects hardness of the machined surface most significantly. However, the effect of increase in pulse-off time on hardness of the machined surface has no fixed nature. The hardness first increases and then decreases significantly. Again it increases. The wire feed has least effect on hardness. The order of other influencing parameters of hardness is: wire tension, pulse-on time, lower flush, upper flush and upper flush. From Table 3, the optimal combination of process parameters for minimum kerf width is found to be: A1B4C3D5E1F2. The symbols A, B, C, D, E and F represents process parameters: Ton, Toff, UF, LF, WF and WT respectively and numbers represents the levels. This means, to have minimum kerf width, Ton should be set on level 1, Toff on 4, UF on 3, LF on 5, WF on 1 and WT on 2. Similarly from Table 4, it is observed that, the optimal combination of process parameters for minimum wire wear is: A3B3C5D5E3F2. This means, to have minimum wire wear, Ton should be set on level 3, Toff on 3, UF on 5, LF on 5, WF on 3 and WT on 2. It is to be noted that the optimal levels of factors differ widely for both the objectives (for minimum kerf width and minimum wire wear). From Table 5, the optimal combination of process parameters for hardness of wire electrical discharge machined surface is: A3B2C2D5E5F5. The hardness of the machined surface should be more for better working performance. This means to have high hardness Ton should be set on level 3, Toff on 2, UF on 2, LF on 5, WF on 5 and WT on 5.
From Figure 5, it is observed that, the predicted values for kerf width determined from regression analysis are in agreement to experimental values. However, wire wear during the WEDM operations 62

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME is sensitive to many operational parameters other than current characteristics of the system such as wire tension, wire feed, flushing conditions which must have attributed toward the non uniformity in experimental wire wear reading with respect to predicted one (Figure 6). Lower wire wear generally results in higher kerf width and the present experimental study also depicts the similar results. Figure 7, shows good agreement between experimental and predicted hardness values reasonably. The hardness of the machined surface is first decreased and then improved when lower flush, wire feed and wire tension is increased. Whereas it first increases and then decreases when pulse-on, pulse-off and upper flush is increased. Thus, the recommended values are of the combined effect of the process parameters.

Figure 5: Comparison of experimental and predicted values of kerf width

EKW PKW

0.37 0.35 0.33 0.31 0.29 0.27 0.25 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

Figure 6: Comparison of Experimental and predicted values of wire wear

0.06 0.05 Wire wear 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 EWW PWW

Kerf width

Figure 7: Comparison of Experimental and predicted values of hardness

360 340 HARDNESS HV 320 300 280 260 240 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 EHV PHV

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, January - February (2013) IAEME

4. CONCLUSIONS WEDM process parameters optimization is responsive not only to the process variables but also the work materials. Therefore, for quality machining performance of a material, parameter optimization is essential to result cost effective usages of the material for the given application. The present investigation revealed that pulse-on ranks high in terms of machining performance of Inconel 625 and it has a predominant effect on kerf width. During machining of Inconel, as pulse-on increases, the kerf width increases which resulted relatively lower wire wear. The wire wear initially decreases significantly with increase in wire feed; however it increases with further rise in wire feed. This may be due the combined effect of other factors. With regard to hardness of machined components, pulse-off causes significant variation. Optimized process parameters could be used as guideline for WEDM of Inconel 625. 5. REFERENCES 1. Atul Kumar and D. K. Singh, Strategic optimization and investigation effect of process parameters on performance of Wire Electrical Discharge Machine (WEDM), Int. J. of Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 6, 2012, 2766-2772.. 2. Atul Kumar and D. K. Singh, Performance analysis of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM), Int. J. of Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2012, 1-9. 3. Cabanes I., Portillo E, Marcos M. and Sanchez J A, On-line prevention of wire breakage in wire electro-discharge machining, Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Volume 24, Issue 2, April 2008, Pages 287-298 4. Choudhary Rajesh, H. Kumar and R. K. Garg, Analysis and evaluation of heat affected zone in electrical discharge machining of EN-31 die steel, Indian Journal of Engineering and Material Science, Vol. 17, 2010, 91-98. 5. Debabrata Mandal, Surjya K. Pal and Partha Saha, Modeling of electrical discharge machining process using back propagation neural network and multi-objective optimization using non-dominating sorting genetic algorithm-II, Journal of Materials processing Technology 186 (2007) 154-162. 6. Hsien-Ching Chen, Jen-Chang Lin, Yung-Kuang Yang, and Chih-Hung Tsai, Optimization of wire electrical discharge machining for pure tungsten using a neural network integrated simulated annealing approach, Expert Systems with Applications 37 (2010) 7147-7153. 7. Konda R., Rajurkar K. P., Bishu R. R. , Guha A. and Parson M., Design of experiments to study and optimize process performance, Int. J. Quality, Reliability and Management, 16 (1) (1999) 5671. 8. Mahapatra S. S. and Amar Patnaik, Parametric optimization of WEDM using Taguchi technique, Journal of Braz. Soc. of Mech. Sci. and Engg. (2006). 9. Manoj Malik, Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Nitesh Kumar, Deepak Sharma and Manoj, Optimization of process parameters of wire EDM using Zinc-coated brass wire, International Journal of Advanced Technology & Engineering Research (IJATER), Vol. 2, No. 4, 2012, 127-130.

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10.Manna A and Bhattacharyya, Study for optimization of CNC-Wire cut EDM parameters during of Al/Sic-MMC using design of experiment, 20th AIMTDR, BIT, Ranchi 13-14 December (2002) 294-299. 11.Mohammadreza Shabgard, Samad Nadimi Bavil Oliaei, Mirsadegh Seyedzavvar and Ahmad Najadebrahimi, Experimental investigation and 3D finite element prediction of the white layer thickness, heat affected zone, and surface roughness in EDM process, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 25 (12) (2011) 3173-3183. 12.Parashar Vishal, A. Rehaman, J. L. Bhagoria, Y.M. Puri, Kerf width analysis for wire cut electro discharge machining of SS304L using design of experiments, Indian Journal of Science and Technolgy, vol. 3 No. 4, 2010, 369-373. 13.Pujari Srinivasa Rao, Koona Ramji and Beela Satyanarayana, Prediction of material removal rate for Aluminum BIS-24345 alloy in Wire-Cut EDM, Int. J. of Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 12, 2010, 7729-7739. 14.Sarkar S., Mitra S. and Bhattacharyya B., Parametric analysis and optimization of wire electrical discharge machining of -titanium aluminide alloy, Journal of Materials Processing Technology 159 (2005) 286-294. 15.Scott D., Boyina S. and Rajurkar K. P., Analysis and optimization of parameter combination in wire electrical discharge machining, Int. J. Prod. Res. 29 (11) (1991) 21892207. 16.Shajan Kuriakose and M. S. Shunmugam, Characteristics of wire-electro discharge machined Ti6A14V surface, Materials Letters, 58 (2004) 2231-2237. 17.Sivakiran S., Bhaskar Reddy and Eswara Reddy, Effect of process parameters on MRR in wire electrical discharge machining of En31 steel, Int. J. of Engineering Research and applications (IJERA), Vol. 2, No. 6, 2012, 1221-1226. 18.Tarng Y. S., Ma S. C. and Chung L. K., Determination of optimal cutting parameters in wire electrical discharge machining, Int. J. Mach. Tools & Manuf. 35 (12) (1995) 1693 1701. 19. Satyanarayana.B, Ranga Janardhana.G, Kalyan.R.R and Hanumantha Rao.D, Prediction of Optimal Cutting Parameters For High Speed Dry Turning of Inconel 718 Using Gonns, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 294 - 305, Published by IAEME. 20 U. D. Gulhane, A. B. Dixit, P. V. Bane and G. S. Salvi, Optimization Of Process Parameters For 316L Stainless Steel Using Taguchi Method And Anova, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 67 - 72, Published by IAEME. 21. U. D. Gulhane, S. B. Mishra and P. K. Mishra, Enhancement of Surface Roughness of 316L Stainless Steel and Ti-6al-4v Using Low Plasticity Burnishing: Doe Approach, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012, pp. 150 - 160, Published by IAEME.

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