Multi-objective Optimization of Electrical Discharge Machining

Process Using a PCA-ANN based approach

Brijkishor Singh*, Dinesh Kumar Kasdekar, Sharad Agrawal, C.S.Malvi

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Madhav Institute of Technology & Science, Gwalior
474005, India (M.P)

Abstract-The optimum selection of process parameters has played a

crucial role in electrical discharge machining (EDM) for improving the
material removal rate, reducing the tool wear rate and surface finish. In this
paper, optimum parameters while machining EN-31 stainless steel using
copper electrode as a tool has been investigated. For optimization of
process parameters along with multiple quality characteristics, principal
component analysis coupled with artificial neural network method has
been adopted in this work. Here artificial neural network (ANN) is used to
predict the combined objective function (COF). Comparison between
experimental COF with ANN predicted COF to find the percentage error.

Keywords-Response parameter (MMR, TWR, SR), EDM, PCA, ANN, COF

1. INTRODUCTION
In the world of machining and most importantly in manufacturing of mould and die components,
machining of hardened steel is a vital area for today’s scientific research. For machining of
hardened steel, the preferred metal cutting process is electrical discharge machining. This process
is characterized by good material removal rate, better dimensional accuracy and up to the mark
surface finish. In practice optimization of every machining process parameter is usually is a
challenging task, because it requires simultaneously both machining operation experience and
knowledge of mathematical algorithms. The problem of optimization in EDM is very complex in
nature and number of constraints has to be considered at a time. Considering this fact process
parameter optimization in electrical discharge machining becomes a multi-objective problem. This
paper deals with influential parameters for EDM, thirty two experiments have been carried out based
on Full Factorial design (25) in order to have representative data. Application of principal
components analysis (PCA) coupled with artificial neural network to effect of process parameters
simultaneously on the performance characteristics during EDM of EN-31 stainless steel and also
to predict the combined objective function using artificial neural network and it is used to calculate
the percentage error. The experimental analysis using the proposed approach gave the optimized
and profitable result.

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2. FRAMEWORK FOR LITERATURE REVIEW

Table I
Summary of literature review and experts Opinion
Author/Year Process parameters Performance Remarks
measures
Gangadharudu powder concentration, maximum MRR and A multi response optimization was also
et al (2015) peak current , pulse on time minimum Ra performed using principal component
and duty cycle analysis-based grey technique (Grey-
PCA) to determine optimum settings of
process parameters
Shailesh et al discharge current , pulse formation of white layer Multi objective optimization of various
(2014) on time , duty cycle and and surface crack EDM parameters for obtaining favourable
polarity density and SR preference measures in surface integrity)
using PCA based grey relational analysis
has been selected.
To develop an appropriate machining
Sameh et pulse duration, peak material removal rate, strategy for a maximum process criteria
al.(2014) current and tool electrode tool electrode wear rate yield. A feed-forward back-propagation
rotational speed and surface roughness neural network was developed to model
the machining process.
Ranjan et Current, Time MRR, surface finish Artificial neural network (ANN) is adopted.
al.(2014) This study addresses the modeling of
machinability of WP7V.
Jagadish et Peak current, pulse Process time, Relative The optimal process parameters using
al.(2014) duration, dielectric level, tool wear ratio ,Process the GRA approach. The weighting values
and flushing pressure. energy, Concentration of corresponding to various performance
aerosol, Dielectric characteristics are determined using
consumption PCA.
Milan et Gas pressure, Arc current, MRR, surface finish WPCA is applied to compute a multi-
al.(2014) Torch height response performance index (MPI) and
then MPI has been optimized using
Taguchi method.
Pulse current (Ip), Material removal rate, Response Surface Methodology (RSM),
Hargovind et al discharge time (Ton), Duty surface roughness, and Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) and
(2013) cycle (Tau) Radial overcut Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
used for optimizing the Electrical
Discharge machining responses.
Cakir et al Discharge current, pulse MRR, EWR, surface Adaptive Nero-Fuzzy Inference System
(2013) on-time, pulse off-time roughness (ANFIS), genetic expression
programming (GEP) and artificial neural
networks (ANN) in the prediction of EDM
performance parameters.
Tzeng and Discharge current, gap MRR, EWR, surface The back propagation neural network/GA
Chen (2013) voltage, pulse on-time, roughness gives better prediction results in the
pulse off-time experimental runs than regression
models based on the RSM method.
Rina et al (2012) Work-piece polarity, pulse- EWR, MRR A modified PCA-based utility theory (UT)
on-time, duty factor , open approach for optimization of correlated
discharge voltage, responses.
discharge current and
dielectric fluid
Atefi et al. Pulse current, pulse Surface roughness A hybrid model, combination of statistical
(2012) voltage, pulse on-time, analysis and ANN, is designed to reduce
pulse off-time the error in optimization of complex and
non-linear problems.
Bharti et al. Shape factor, pulse-on MRR, surface finish The average percentage difference
(2012) time, discharge current, between experimental and ANN’s
duty cycle, gap voltage, predicted value is 4 and 4.67 for MRR and
flushing pressure, tool SR respectively.
electrode lift time

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is a thermoelectric process that removes material from the
work piece by a series of discrete sparks between a work and tool electrode immersed in a liquid
dielectric medium. The method of removal of material from the work piece is by melting and
vaporizing minute amounts of electrode material, which then cast out and flushed away by the
dielectric fluid. Any material which is conductive in life can be machined by EDM. Generally hard
material with complex shape can be easily machined by Electrical Discharge Machining.

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 Fig. 1 Electrical Discharge Machine

4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 PRINCIPLE COMPONENT ANALYSIS

Initially, this technique has been applied to quantify and identify phenomena in social sciences in
which it was difficult to directly measure the phenomenal changes. PCA is useful in reduction of
data and interpretation of multi-objective sets of data. Currently PCA is finding wide applications in
various scientific fields. The goal of PCA is, therefore, to preserve as much information contained
in the data as possible. The optimal number of principal components (PCs) needed to achieve this
task is not known a priori. The task is to find a set of principal components with Eigen values that
have a significantly larger value than the remaining components, the algorithm of principal
components analysis is given below:

Step 1: Convert the experimental data in to signal to-noise ratio by using Eq. (i)

1 n 2
 ij  10 log(  yij )
n j 1
(i)

Step 2: Normalize the signal-to-noise ratio:

Higher is better Lower is better

xi(o) (j)  minx i(o) (j) max xi(o) (j)  x i(o) (j)
x (j) 
*
x (j) 
*

max xi(o) (j)  minx i(o) (j) max xi(o) (j)  minx i(o) (j)
i i

Step 3: Represent the multi-responses by matrix:

 x11 x1n 
 
X  
x xmn 
 m1
Step 4: Evaluate the correlation coefficient array by using Eq. (ii)

COV [x I (j), x i (l)]

R jl  , j=1,2,…….,n,; l=1,2,…….n (ii)
 xi (j) X  xi (l)
Where, COV [x I (j), x i (l)] : the covariance of sequences xi (j) and xi (l);  xi (j) : the standard
deviation of sequence
xi (j);  x (l) : The standard deviation of sequence xi (l) .
i

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Step 5: Calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors by using Eq. (iii)

(R  k lm ) Vik  0
(iii)

Step 6: Obtain the principal components by using Eq. (iv)

m
Pik   x (j) XV
j 1
i jk
(iv)
Step 7: Calculate the Total Principal Component Index (TPCI) by using Eq. (v)

m
Pi  p
k 1
ik Xe(k)
(v)

eig (k)
e(k)  m
Where,  eig (k)
k 1
, eig (k)  k th eigenvalue

Step 8: Generate response table and select the optimum levels of Process parameters:

Table II
EDM process parameter

Control factor Levels

1 2
Voltage 50V 60V1
Current 12A 16A
Pulse on time 6µs 7µs
Pulse off time 4µs 5µs
Flushing Pressure 1.5Kg/cm2 2.5Kg/cm2

Step 9: Calculate the combined objective function (COF) by using Eq. (vi)

Measured value of quality characteristic in each run

Weighted normalized value for each response = W i X
Minimum value of quality characteristic in the data set

W i =Weightage assigned to the quality characteristic (vi)

I=1,2,3,………..n; and n is the number of quality characteristics

COF=∑ Weighted normalized value for all responses in each run

4.2. Predictions Based On Neural Network.

The ANN is an efficient quantitative tool to predict the COF. Due to presence of non-linearity in
EDM process prediction of COF is done using Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm and 5
numbers of hidden neuron are seen to be efficient for optimal values of responses. ANN splits the
data into training and testing sets and the studies were carried out by using MATLAB simulation
environment. The network architecture/ topology or features such as number of neurons and layers
are very important factors that determine the functionality and generalization capability of the
network .Training of an ANN plays a significant role in designing the direct ANN-based prediction.
The comparison between the experimental result and the predicted result based on PCA and ANN
of Full Factorial data is shown in Fig 4.

5. RESULT & DISCUSSION

After calculating the TPCI’s for all the experimental run, the next step is to construct the response
table. As an illustration in order to calculate the response value, using Eq. (v) we get, Using this
method of calculation the remaining response values corresponding to the factors and their

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respective levels are determined. The maximum value of TPCI corresponding to each factor gives
the predicted optimum factor level. The combined objective function (COF) for all the quality
characteristics is calculated using Eq. (vi) by assigning the equal weights of 0.459,0.289 and 0.323
for each quality characteristic. Table (iv) shows the COF values for all the experimental runs.

5.1 Tables and Figures

Table III
Dataset for the PCA (The values of variables are normalized)
Exp.No Process Parameter Combination Normalized Response variable
Voltage Current Pulse on Pulse of Flushing MMR TWR SR
time time Pressure (mm3/m (%) (μm)
in)

1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0.580 0.741 0.000

2 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0.544 0.704 0.268
3 -1 1 -1 -1 -1 0.350 0.307 0.239
4 1 1 -1 -1 -1 0.245 0.283 0.445
5 -1 -1 1 -1 -1 0.411 0.590 0.414
6 1 -1 1 -1 -1 0.344 0.567 0.780
7 -1 1 1 -1 -1 0.218 0.120 0.310
8 1 1 1 -1 -1 0.183 0.105 0.351
9 -1 -1 -1 1 -1 0.366 0.456 0.670
10 1 -1 -1 1 -1 0.482 0.601 0.849
11 -1 1 -1 1 -1 0.152 0.000 0.016
12 1 1 -1 1 -1 0.192 0.034 0.064
13 -1 -1 1 1 -1 0.776 0.395 0.759
14 1 -1 1 1 -1 1.000 0.383 1.000
15 -1 1 1 1 -1 0.347 0.142 0.408
16 1 1 1 1 -1 0.411 0.013 0.276
17 -1 -1 -1 -1 1 0.623 0.436 0.623
18 1 -1 -1 -1 1 0.390 0.766 0.462
19 -1 1 -1 -1 1 0.111 0.331 0.240
20 1 1 -1 -1 1 0.019 0.226 0.282
21 -1 -1 1 -1 1 0.831 0.651 0.816
22 1 -1 1 -1 1 0.467 0.837 0.572
23 -1 1 1 -1 1 0.114 0.031 0.336
24 1 1 1 -1 1 0.165 0.043 0.087
25 -1 -1 -1 1 1 0.590 0.514 0.844
26 1 -1 -1 1 1 0.362 0.534 0.638
27 -1 1 -1 1 1 0.036 0.158 0.294
28 1 1 -1 1 1 0.000 0.415 0.253
29 -1 -1 1 1 1 0.345 0.760 0.749
30 1 -1 1 1 1 0.192 1.000 0.658
31 -1 1 1 1 1 0.163 0.558 0.287
32 1 1 1 1 1 0.051 0.047 0.227

Table IV
Eigen values and Eigen vectors
MRR TWR SR
(PC1) (PC2) (PC3)
EIGEN VALUES 1.7948 0.6497 0.5655

EIGEN VECTOR 0.590755 -0.278451 -0.757280

0.581559 -0.503633 0.638860
0.559283 0.817813 0.135588

Table V
Principal components and COF for the experimental runs
Exp.No Principal Components TPCI Weighted Normalized COF
PC1 PC2 PC3 MRR TWR SR
1 0.136 -0.035 0.930 0.287 0.817 0.890 0.334 2.042
2 -0.077 0.133 0.916 0.231 0.858 0.610 0.346 1.815
3 -0.059 0.201 0.479 0.149 1.121 0.635 0.540 2.297
4 -0.271 0.284 0.428 0.061 1.297 0.475 0.547 2.318
5 -0.234 0.206 0.768 0.141 1.030 0.496 0.436 1.963
6 -0.545 0.412 0.761 0.052 1.126 0.297 0.444 1.867
7 -0.139 0.264 0.262 0.075 1.344 0.575 0.617 2.537
8 -0.186 0.277 0.235 0.050 1.411 0.542 0.624 2.578
9 -0.418 0.411 0.668 0.088 1.097 0.346 0.482 1.926

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 10 -0.425 0.520 0.876 0.121 0.935 0.269 0.433 1.637
11 0.077 0.098 0.087 0.085 1.473 0.882 0.674 3.030
12 0.055 0.135 0.143 0.100 1.394 0.812 0.673 2.880
13 -0.226 0.737 0.859 0.318 0.623 0.305 0.504 1.434
14 -0.273 1.027 1.008 0.415 0.459 0.218 0.508 1.185
15 -0.143 0.390 0.365 0.134 1.126 0.500 0.607 2.234
16 0.030 0.408 0.277 0.199 1.026 0.603 0.668 2.298
17 -0.225 0.540 0.789 0.245 0.766 0.370 0.489 1.626
18 -0.332 0.136 0.907 0.110 1.043 0.464 0.383 1.891
19 -0.208 0.051 0.365 0.008 1.558 0.634 0.528 2.722
20 -0.265 0.077 0.233 0.043 1.785 0.598 0.571 2.954
21 -0.308 0.676 1.107 0.324 0.576 0.282 0.417 1.276
22 -0.390 0.215 1.023 0.135 0.951 0.398 0.363 1.713
23 -0.195 0.265 0.134 0.017 1.544 0.554 0.659 2.753
24 0.019 0.129 0.139 0.080 1.423 0.787 0.653 2.865
25 -0.333 0.623 0.864 0.190 0.802 0.271 0.461 1.535
26 -0.417 0.349 0.725 0.085 1.098 0.362 0.455 1.915
27 -0.245 0.129 0.189 0.030 1.727 0.587 0.600 2.915
28 -0.207 -0.047 0.373 0.063 1.816 0.622 0.496 2.935
29 -0.475 0.296 0.916 0.044 1.129 0.309 0.385 1.824
30 -0.363 0.028 1.014 0.047 1.394 0.352 0.323 2.069
31 -0.276 -0.002 0.586 0.017 1.450 0.594 0.447 2.492
32 -0.154 0.151 0.097 0.005 1.690 0.647 0.652 2.990

Fig. 2 Variation of MSE w.r.t. epoch Fig. 3 Correlation Coefficients Fig. 4 Variation of PCA.(COF) and ANN
(COF) of testing data w.r.t. exemplar

7. CONCLUSION

 DOE approach along with PCA and ANN is an efficient way to find out the optimality condition
with multiple responses and its predicted value.
 Application of PCA has been recommended to eliminate response correlation by converting
correlated responses into uncorrelated quality indices called principal components which have
been as treated as independent response variables for optimization. The approach can be
recommended for continuous quality improvement and off-line quality control of a
process/product.
 The optimal cutting parameters are found to be voltage of 50 volt, discharge current 12 amp,
pulse on time 8µs, pulse off time 4 µs and flushing pressure 1.5kg/cm 2 respectively for multi-
objective optimization in this work.
 An ANN model predicted the combined objective function (COF) as a function of machining
parameters. The model has been proved to be successful in terms of agreement with
experimental results as the relative errors are very less. From the relative error plots it is found
that points are randomly and dispersly distributed and hence the data predicted are
significantly fit to the model. The proposed model can be used in optimization of machining
process for efficient and economic production by forecasting the responses in EDM
operations.

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