The Implementation of Taguchi Method for optimization of Material Removal Rate in Electrical Discharge Machining Process

Pavan Patel 1 Darshit Patel 2 Tarun Modi3 Kaushik Parmar4 Sheetal Pandya5
1,2,3,4

B.E Mechanical Student

Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering V.G.E.C, Chandkheda,382424 Ahmedabad Email: s_pandya7@yahoo.co.in

Vishwakarma. Govt. Engg. College, Chandkheda, 382424 Ahmedabad. Email : 1. Pavan00747@yahoo.com 2. Darshil.5454@gmail.com 3. Kaushikparmar13@gmail.com 4. tarun_modi1989@yahoo.com

Abstract: In this paper, the application of the Taguchi method for optimization of process parameters, to maximize MRR of EDM process has been reported. The Taguchi method is used to formulate the experimental layout, analyses the effect of process parameter & to determine the optimum choice for EDM parameters. Process parameters taken in to consideration are Peak current, Pulse on time, Pulse off time, Workpiece material & Tool material. The Analyses based on Signal to Noise ratio (S/N ratio) & Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of S/N ratio reveals the order in which the process parameters have effect on MRR of EDM process. The optimum choice of process parameter to maximize MRR is determined from main effect plots of means & main effect plots of S/N ratio.

Key words: EDM, MRR, ANOVA.

1. INTRODUCTION With increasing demand for new hard, high strength & temperature resistance material in engineering, the development of EDM has become increasingly important. In EDM Material is removed by mean of rapid & repetitive spark discharge across the gap between the tool & work piece. In EDM it is important to select machining parameters for achieving optimal machining performance (McGeough, 1998). Since the EDM process does not involve mechanical energy, the removal rate is not affected by hardness, strength or toughness of workpiece material (Mohd

Amri Lajis et al.2009). Therefore it is of great significance & necessary to investigate effects of EDM process parameters (Current, Pulse duration, interval time, work piece, tool) on material removal rate of EDM process. The Taguchi method, an experimental design method adopts a set of orthogonal arrays to investigate the effects of parameters on specific quality characteristics to decide optimum parameter combination. Therefore, here in this study Taguchi method (Roy Ranjit K, 1966) as a powerful tool in the design of experiment methods is used to determine the optimum values of process parameters to maximize MRR. 2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK In this study the experiment has been conducted on the Electrical Discharge Machine (S25 Sparkonix ) .The schematic diagram of the experimental set-up is shown in fig. 1. The electrode & workpiece are separated by dielectric. An Experiment, for determining the optimal machining parameters is carried out by setting three levels of the machining parameters. Ranges of factors are selected based on the results obtained from pilot experiment. Table 1 Machining parameters & their levels
Factors Current (amp) Pulse On Time (s) Pulse Off Time (s) Tool Material WP Material Level 1 3 3 9 Copper M.S. Levels Level 2 12 5 5 Brass EN31 Level 3 20 8 3 Graphite D2

Difference in weight of workpiece material is recorded after each machining test. The machining time considered is 20 min for each test. The material removal rate is calculated by considering amount of material removed, density of workpiece material & the required cutting time.

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the EDM process (Lin J.L. and Lin C.L., 2002) 3. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT In this study the design of experiment is carried out using Taguchis method. In Taguchi method to design an experiment is to select the most suitable Orthogonal Array (OA) & to assign the parameters and interactions to most appropriate columns. In the present investigation, the effects of the selected EDM process parameters on the selected quality characteristics have been investigated through S/N data analysis. The optimum condition for

MRR has been established through main effect plot for S/N ratio and main effect plot for means. Furthermore, statistical analysis of variance of S/N ratio is performed to identify the process parameters those are of statistical significant. 3.1 Selection of Process Parameters ,Their levels & Identification of Response The process parameters of EDM, their level & response selected for this experiment is given below in table 2. Table 2 Process Parameters & their levels
Factors Current (amp) Pulse On Time (s) Pulse Off Time (s) Tool Material WP Material Level 1 3 3 9 Copper M.S. Levels Level 2 12 5 5 Brass EN31 Response Level 3 20 8 3 Graphite D2

Material removal rate

3.2 Selection of OA & Assignment of Process Parameters to OA. After selecting process parameters & their levels, L27 OA is selected based on the degree of freedom. Assignment of the factors to OA is carried out by MINITAB software.

3.2.1

Degree of Freedom (DOF)

No of DOF for a factor = numbers of level -1 Total No of DOF for an experiment = no of test 1. = 27-1 = 26 No of DOF for error = DOF of an experiment Total no of DOF of = 26-10 =16 all factor

Table 3 Degree of Freedom

Factor Degree of freedom

Current 2

Ton 2

Toff 2

Tool material 2

Workpiece material 2

Total 10

Table 4 Orthogonal Array

SR No 1 2 3 4 5 Current A 3 3 3 3 3 Ton s 3 3 3 5 5 Toff s 9 9 9 5 5 Tool Mtr. Copper Copper Copper Brass Brass WP Mtr. MS D2 EN31 MS D2 MRR mm3/min I 0.0682 0.0649 0.0164 0.3444 0.2006 II 0.0695 0.0675 0.0079 0.3176 0.1273 Mean MRR 0.068878 0.066234 0.012171 0.330995 0.163961 S/N Ratio -23.238446 -23.578411 -38.293437 -9.603574 -15.705187

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

3 3 3 3 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

5 8 8 8 3 3 3 5 5 5 8 8 8 3 3 3 5 5 5 8 8 8

5 3 3 3 5 5 5 3 3 3 9 9 9 3 3 3 9 9 9 5 5 5

Brass Gr. Gr. Gr. Gr. Gr. Gr. Copper Copper Copper Brass Brass Brass Brass Brass Brass Gr. Gr. Gr. Copper Copper Copper

EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31 MS D2 EN31

0.1862 0.4994 0.4643 0.3737 1.0925 1.9422 2.2658 6.8265 4.8097 6.9243 1.7978 2.5558 2.3461 0.8846 0.5110 0.5559 2.5593 5.7961 3.7441 20.4069 15.9851 12.3783

0.1816 0.8584 0.4571 0.2493 0.9152 2.0539 1.8072 6.6282 4.2760 8.5908 2.7596 2.1864 3.0414 0.2526 0.8169 0.7993 1.9707 5.1506 2.2882 21.7806 14.4773 11.2211

0.183882 0.67889 0.460714 0.311513 1.003827 1.998052 2.036513 6.72736 4.542857 7.757566 2.278699 2.371104 2.69375 0.568559 0.663961 0.677632 2.264987 5.473377 3.016118 21.09375 15.23117 11.79967

-14.709236 -3.3640079 -6.7313664 -10.130472 0.03317339 6.01213551 6.17774441 16.556893 13.1465816 17.7945093 7.15373916 7.49901168 8.60714575 -4.9044942 -3.5571481 -3.3801273 7.10131521 14.7651067 9.58896778 26.4830759 23.6546646 21.437398

3.3 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS Analysis of result is carried out by calculating S/N ratio of MRR values and ANOVA of S/N ratio. Calculation of S/N ratio & ANOVA is carried out using MINITAB software. 3.3.1 Signal-to-Noise Ratio From the analysis point of view, there are three possible categories of the response characteristics 1. Smaller is better (LB), 2.Larger is better (HB) and 3. Nominal is best (NB) types. Here MRR is considered as response characteristics there for larger is better is considered. (S/N)HB= -10 log (MSDHB) Where, MSDHB=

1 1 + 1 + 1 + .... + 1 2 2 2 ) ( 2 n

----------------------------------------------------------(1) n = no. of repetitions, y= observed value. MSD = Mean square deviation 3.3.2 Analysis of Variance The knowledge of the contribution of individual factors is critically important for the control of the final response. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a common statistical technique to determine the percent contribution of each factor for results of the experiment. It calculates parameters known as sum of squares ( SS), pure SS, degree of freedom (DOF), variance, F-ratio and percentage of each factor. 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effects of machining parameters i.e. work-piece, electrode, pulse on time, pulse off time, current, are evaluated through S/N ratio and General linear Model ANOVA of S/N ratio. A confidence interval of 95% has been used for the analysis. Two runs for each of 27 trails are executed to measure the S/N Ratio. The results for MRR for each of the 27 treatment conditions

with repetition are given in Table 4 MRR of each sample is calculated from weight difference of work-piece before and after the performance trial, which is given by

--------------------------------------(2)

Where, = density of workpiece material in gm/cm 3 Table 5 Response table for SN ratio
Level 1 2 3 Rank Current -16.1505 9.2201 10.1321 1 Ton -9.4143 -4.3262 8.2899 2 Toff 1.7145 4.8645 -3.3772 3 Tool 3.7736 3.1778 2.6058 4 WP 1.8020 1.7228 -0.3231 5

Table 6 Analysis of Variance for SN ratios

Source Current Ton Toff Tool Material WP Error Total DF 2 2 2 2 2 16 26 Seq SS 4005.81 1556.86 311.32 249.41 26.12 247.97 6394.49 Adj SS 4005.81 1553.86 311.32 249.41 26.12 247.97 Adj MS 2002.90 776.93 155.66 124.70 13.06 15.50 F 129.23 50.13 10.04 8.05 0.84 P 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.004 0.449

Main Effects Plot for SN ratios

Data Means
Current 0 -6 6 4 Ton Toff 8 Current

Main Effects Plot for Means

Data Means
Ton Toff

M e a n o f S N r a t io s

-12

-24 3 12 Tool Material 20 3 5 WP 8 3 5 9

Mean of Means

-18

2 0 3 8 6 4 2 12 Tool Material 20 3 5 WP 8 3 5 9

0 -6 -12 -18 -24 Copper Brass Graphite MS D2 EN31

0 Copper Brass Graphite MS D2 EN31

Signal-to-noise: Larger is better

Fig. 2 Main Effects Plot for SN ratios

Fig. 3 Main Effects Plot for Means

From Table 5 (Response table for S/N ratio of MRR at 95% confidence interval) and Table 6 (Analysis of Variance for SN ratios at = 0.5 ); the order in which each machining parameters affects MRR of EDM Process is determined. Figure 2 (Main Effects for Means for MRR) and Figure 3 (Main Effects Plot for SN ratios), both reveals the same results for optimum condition of machining parameters .Value of S/N ratio in Table 4 also gives optimum choice of machining parameter for maximum MRR.

5. CONCLUSION In this experimental analysis, Highest MRR was observed when work-piece material MS is machined with copper tool at pulse on time 8s, pulse off time 5s & current 20Amp. Current at 20Amp has optimal value for higher MRR. Current was observed to be the most significant factor affecting the MRR, followed by pulse on time, pulse off time, tool material and work piece material. The results of ANOVA for S/N ratios of MRR (Table 5) indicates that current, Ton, Toff & tool material are significant machining parameters while work piece material is insignificant parameter affecting MRR.

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