Investigations into performance of dry EDM using slotted electrodes

Dry EDM is an emerging EDM technology, which uses gas as dielectric fluid. Due to low density of gaseous dielectric, the process experiences i) unconstrained plasma expansion thereby reducing the effective material removal rate (MRR) and ii) inefficient disposal of debris. This work proposes use of electrodes with peripheral slots to provide more space for the flow of dielectric for effective debris disposal and consequently improve MRR.

In this regard, a comprehensive experimentation using Taguchi L16 orthogonal array has been planned initially to optimize the number of peripheral slots on the electrodes, and then to understand the effect of the slots on material removal, tool wear, oversize and depth achieved as a function of processing conditions.

It is observed that the optimum number of peripheral slots on electrode for effective debris evacuation is four for the electrode configuration used in this work. The statistical analysis shows that in dry EDM, discharge current (I), gap voltage (V), rotational speed (N) and pulse off-time (Toff) control MRR.

Also, use of slotted electrodes significantly reduces the electrode wear rate, and attachment of debris particles on the electrodes.