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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

IMME17

Effect of recast layer thickness on the mechanical characteristics of

INCONEL 718 machined by spark EDM process
M. Anthony Xavior, P. Ashwath*, Harun Ali, Atef Moideen, Pansura Banu,
Illanthendral, Muhammad Raneez, Saneesh Sancylal
School of mechanical engineering, VIT University, Vellore – 632014, India.

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the effects of the recast layer, formed after the spark EDM, on the
strength characteristics of the inconel 718 alloy. The parameters such as peak discharge current, current pulse duration, gap
voltage and pulse off time were chosen to study the influence of machining characteristics on the mechanical properties of the
material. SEM and EDS studies were used to understand the impact of the recast layer thickness on the mechanical properties of
the machined samples.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Emerging Trends in Materials and
Manufacturing Engineering (IMME17).

Keywords: Inconel 718, Electric discharge machining (EDM), Mechanical characterization, Microstructural analysis.

1. Introduction

Inconel alloys are Ni–Cr based super alloys which cover a wide range of composition and mechanical properties. Ni
and Cr inhibit corrosion, oxidation, carburizing and other damage mechanism acting at high temperature. Inconel
alloys have good cryogenic properties, good fatigue and mechanical strength at moderate temperatures and
relatively good creep behaviour. Usually, Inconel alloys are extra-alloyed with Al, Ti, Nb, Co, Cu and W to increase
mechanical and corrosion resistance. Fe can also be present in amounts ranging 1–20%. These super alloys are
indented for heat treatment recipients, turbines, aviation, nuclear power plants, and so on [1].

* Corresponding author:
E-mail address: ashwathp90@gmail.com

2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Emerging Trends in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(IMME17).
8250 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255

Nomenclature

Ip Peak current discharge

Ton Current pulse duration
Eg Gap Voltage
Toff Pulse Off Time
HRC Hardness –Rockwell scale

Inconel 718 is a precipitation hardened alloy, containing significant amounts of Fe, Nb and Mo. Minor
contents of Al and Ti are also present. Inconel 718 combines good corrosion and high mechanical properties with
excellent weldability. Alloy 718 display exceptionally high yield, tensile and creep-rupture properties at
temperatures up to 1300°F. The sluggish age-hardening response of alloy 718 permits annealing and welding
without spontaneous hardening during heating and cooling. This alloy has excellent weldability when compared to
the nickel-base super alloys hardened by aluminium and titanium. This alloy has been used for jet engine, gas
turbines, rocket engines, turbine blades, and in extrusion dies and containers and high-speed airframe parts such as
wheels, buckets, spacers, and high temperature bolts and fasteners [2].Sinker EDM, also called cavity type EDM or
volume EDM, consists of an electrode and workpiece submerged in an insulating liquid such as, more typically,
[3] oil or, less frequently, other dielectric fluids. The electrode and workpiece are connected to a suitable power
supply. These sparks usually strike one at a time because it is very unlikely that different locations in the inter-
electrode space have the identical local electrical characteristics which would enable a spark to occur simultaneously
in all such locations [3]. The power supply generates an electrical potential between the two parts. As the electrode
approaches the work piece, dielectric breakdown occurs in the fluid, forming a plasma channel, and a small spark
jumps [4] [5] [6] [7]. These sparks happen in huge numbers at seemingly random locations between the electrode
and the workpiece. As the base metal is eroded, and the spark gap subsequently increased, the electrode is lowered
automatically by the machine so that the process can continue uninterrupted. Several hundred thousand sparks occur
per second, with the actual duty cycle carefully controlled by the setup parameters. These controlling cycles are
sometimes known as "on time" and "off time" [4] [8] [9]. The on time setting determines the length or duration of
the spark. Hence, a longer on time produces a deeper cavity for that spark and all subsequent sparks for that cycle,
creating a rougher finish on the work piece. The reverse is true for a shorter on time. Off time is the period of time
that one spark is replaced another. A longer off time, for example, allows the flushing of dielectric fluid through a
nozzle to clean out the eroded debris, thereby avoiding a short circuit. These settings can be maintained in
microseconds. The typical part geometry is a complex 3D shape, often with small or odd shaped angles. Vertical,
orbital, vectorial, directional, helical, conical, rotational, spin and indexing machining cycles are also used [3].After
EDM, formation of recast layer occurs on the surface of the work piece due to thermal action of the electrical
discharge. The recast layer is formed due to the re-solidification of the melted material which was not flounced
away from the work piece surface by the action of dielectric fluid during EDM and exhibits high hardness, good
adherence to the bulk and good resistance to corrosion. But the formation of the recast layer also increases the
surface roughness, making the surface hard and brittle, decrease fatigue strength due to existence of micro voids and
micro cracks [14].
Literature review reveals that though a number of attempts have been made to study the mechanical
characteristics of Inconel 718 using wire EDM , an approach towards studying mechanical characteristics of die
sinker EDM induced recast layer on Inconel 718 hasn’t been attempted yet. To address this issue the present research
is an investigation on the effect of recast layers formed due to electric discharge machining (EDM) process on the
low cycle fatigue life of the Inconel 718 alloy. In order to accomplish this objective, the experimental work is
planned in two phases. During the first phase, the selected EDM parameters were used to conduct the experimental
trials to acquire the recast layer on the specimen. Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array was adopted to design the
experiments. Based on the available literature, it is identified that Peak Discharge Current, Current Pulse Duration,
Gap Voltage and Pulse off Time are the parameters that influence the recast layer to a large extent.
 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255 8251

2. Material and experimental method

Table 1 shows a typical chemical composition of the work material inconel 718 with hardness 40 HRC used in the
research.
Table 1: Inconel 718 composition
Element Ni Fe Mo Ti Cr C Nb Al
Weight % Bal. 18.5 3 0.9 19 0.04 5.1 0.5

The methodology included design and fabrication of EDM tools for machining dumbbell shaped (ASTM E08 tensile
test sample) samples of Inconel 718 using spark EDM to study the mechanical characteristics of the metal in
question. Fig 1 and fig 2 shows the tool made up of copper because it is a common base material which is highly
conductive and strong in nature and commonly used in EDM applications. The tool consists of a rectangular copper
sample of dimensions 40mm x 20mm x 10mm, welded with a copper rod of diameter 8mm on the centre of the
rectangular copper bar. Another copper tool consisting of a rectangular sample of dimensions 70mm x 20mm x
10mm, welded with a copper rod of diameter 8mm was designed for facing operations.

Figure 1: Profile cutting tool Figure 2: Facing tool

The copper tool was inserted into the tool holder of the spark EDM machine as shown in fig 3, 4 and 5. The
work piece of dimension 10 x 6 x100 mm (Inconel 718) was fixed on the work bench. It was ensured that the tool
surface was parallel and in contact with the work piece. The chamfered part of the tool was placed on one edge of
the work piece and was moved 1.85 mm from that edge to obtain the tensile profile. Each of the 9 samples has
different parameters entered into the machine as shown in Table 2. The whole setup was immersed in a crude
petroleum dielectric medium. The spark EDM process was started and it continued until the profile was formed and
the same process was repeated on the other side. After this, facing operation was done on both sides of the work
piece to a depth of 0.425 mm. The same procedure is carried out with rest of the eight samples with their
corresponding input parameters. A cuboid piece of work piece was cut into 4 parts and was observed under
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to validate the microstructure of Inconel 718. Fig 6 shows the Instron testing
machine used for conducting tensile test of the SEDM processed samples. Fig 7 shows the samples prepared after
the SEDM process and tested after tensile test.

Figure 3: Die sinker EDM Figure 4: Tool setup for the EDM process Figure 5: ASTM E08 sample Figure 6: Tensile profile after EDM
8252 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255

Table 2: Parameters and their levels and corresponding surface roughness values
Surface
Peak Discharge Current Pulse Gap Voltage, Eg Pulse-Off
Sample No: Roughness,
Current, Ip(A) Duration, Ton (µs) (V) Time, Toff (µs)
(microns)
1 8 200 4 100 6.7049
2 8 400 6 150 9.0235
3 8 810 8 200 8.7959
4 14 200 6 150 10.4685
5 14 400 8 100 11.7111
6 14 810 4 200 12.2710
7 20 200 8 150 5.9402
8 20 400 4 200 10.4588
9 20 810 6 100 11.0115

(i) (ii)
Figure 7: Samples used for the investigation. (i) Sample after the tensile test. (ii) Samples before tensile test.

(i) 8A (ii) 14A (iii) 20A

Fig8: SEM images of Inconel 718 after EDM process at Ton = 400, Toff = 150, and gap voltage of 6.
Images shown in Fig 8 depict that, as the intensity of the current increases the surface roughness of the work piece
sample also increases as shown in the microstructure. Images presented in Fig.9 show the crack formation in the
samples operated under different peak currents. There is only one crack initiation spot in the 8A sample, whereas
there are 3 spots for the 14A sample and there are 4 spots in the 20A sample. Spots are those parts in a tensile tested
sample from where the crack has high possibility to propagate.

3. Result and Discussion

An increase in peak current showed an increase in surface roughness. It is observed, when current pulse duration (on
time) increases, the material removal decreases in proportion to the amount of current and voltage while surface
roughness increases which means that increase in pulse on time results in poor surface finish of the work piece.
Unstable spark resulted during shorter pulse off time [10].
 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255 8253

Our experimental analysis shows that by keeping Peak Current constant, increase in current pulse duration
increases the surface roughness of the work piece for that Peak Current, which is in line with general consensus as
shown in the Fig 10. From Fig.11, it can be seen that by keeping similar constraints tabulated, the tensile strength
decreases with increase in peak current. This is due to the fact that as current increases, the roughness increases
thereby decreasing the tensile strength. More roughness implies lesser surface finish of the workpiece which will
decrease the tensile strength of the workpiece. From Fig.12, it can be seen that, as the current increases, the hardness
of the samples were decreasing. The decrease of hardness is due to the recast layer formation. This could be due to
the reduction of chromium content from the surface and addition of copper and zinc to the recast layer which
modifies its mechanical properties. The decrease in hardness may be due to the electrolysis happening in the de-
ionized water dielectric and this leads to the oxidation on the surface [11, 12] and a decrease in the hardness of the
surface [13].

(i) 8A (ii) 14A (iii) 20A

Fig 9: Fractography of work piece sample after tensile test Ton = 400, Toff = 150, and gap voltage of 6.
Fig.8 shows the SEM images for samples processed with peak currents 8A, 14A and 20A respectively.
Then, Ra increased with the increase in discharge current with all Ton conditions. By increasing Ip, the amount of
energy in the EDM process will increase. Therefore, the melting and vaporizing of the work piece will produce the
larger and deep crater as indicated in Fig. 8. It can be used to prove our experimental result that as the peak current
is increased; the surface roughness is also increased. Fig.9 shows the SEM images of the tensile tested samples
processed with peak currents 8A, 14A and 20A respectively. The 8A sample shows very few spots for crack
initiation compared to the other two samples because for the 8A sample the roughness is comparatively less and this
leads to less chance for the crack to propagate. But several crack initiation spots were observed for the samples that
are dealt with Ip values close to 14 A and 20 A. From the SEM image as shown in Fig.8 also clearly observed that,
the deep of the valley/craters with various shapes of recast layer was formed (Fig. 13) and this condition was
contributed to the high Ra value at higher Ip than the lower Ip ( table 2).
There is a formation of recast layer in the sample which was machined at 8A, 14 A and 20 A as shown in
Fig 13. As indicated in Fig. 13, the Ra is better at lower peak current with shallower and flattened crater formation.
Due to the formation of recast layer, there is a decrease in hardness and tensile strength in the work piece.
Experimental analysis also shows an increase in surface roughness because of recast layer formation. The average
recast layer thickness observed form all
The analysis was observed that the Ton is the one of the significant factors that can improve Ra. Normally, an
increase in Ton the Ra value will increase because of melting boundary becomes deeper and wider, however, due to
longer Ton, the frequency and intensity of the sparking will reduce. As a consequence, a shallower and flatten crater
is produced. Thus, Ra value was not varying too much with increasing Ton throughout the overall trials.
8254 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255

Variation of surface roughness with current pulse Variation of tensile strength with current pulse
duration at constant peak current duration at constant peak current
Surface Roughness (microns)

Tensile Strength (MN/m2)

200 µs
400 µs
810 µs

Current (A) Current (A)

Fig10: Variation of surface roughness with current Fig11: Variation of tensile strength with current pulse
pulse duration at constant peak current duration at constant peak current

Variation of hardness with current pulse duration at

constant peak current
hardness (HRC)

Current (A)

Fig 12: Variation of hardness with current pulse duration at constant peak current

Fig 13: Recast layer formation for 8A , 14A and 20 A for Ton = 400, Toff = 150, and gap voltage of 6.
 Anthony et al., / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 8249–8255 8255

4. Conclusion

Experimental investigation on the influence of the recast layer formed during spark EDM of Inconel 718 is being
reported in this paper. Successfully the tensile samples are fabricated with spark EDM process. It is being concluded
that when the peak current is increased the average recast layer thickness observed to be in the range of 20 to 70 µm.
Due to the formation of recast layer there is a significant change in the mechanical characteristics of Inconel 718.
The formation of recast layer makes the material surface quality poor which acts as a potential crack initiation spots
which indeed decreases the tensile strength. As the current increases there is increasing in the surface roughness of
the material.

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