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ACME-201; No.

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Review

A review on inuence of electrical process


parameters in EDM process
T. Muthuramalingam a,*, B. Mohan b
a
b

Department of Production Technology, M.I.T. Campus, Anna University, Chennai, India


Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, India

article info

abstract

Article history:

Since the thermal energy produced in electrical discharge machining process is due to the

Received 12 July 2013

applied electrical energy, it is very important to enhance the electrical process parameters to

Accepted 16 February 2014

improve the process efciency. The present study discusses about having an overview of the

Available online xxx

EDM process, modeling of process parameters, and inuence of process parameters such as
input electrical variables, pulse shape, and discharge energy on performance measures such

Keywords:

as material removal rate, surface roughness and electrode wear rate. This study also

EDM

discusses about controlling the electrical process parameters, and empirical relationships

EWR

between process parameters and optimization of process parameters in EDM process. From

Discharge

the review results, it has been observed that the efcacy of the machining process can be

MRR

improved by electrical process parameters, and only less attention has been given for

Surface

enhancing such parameters.


# 2014 Politechnika Wrocawska. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All
rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Electrical discharge machining (EDM), otherwise known as


thermal erosion process, is one of the non-conventional
machining processes, where tool and workpiece do not come
into contact with each other during the machining process. The
progression of events constituting the process of material
erosion from the work surfaces by an electrical discharge
machining can be explained in the following way. If an
appropriate voltage is developed across the tool electrode
(normally cathode) and the workpiece (normally anode), the
breakdown of dielectric medium between them happens due to

the growth of a strong electrostatic eld. Owing to the electric


eld, electrons are emitted from the cathode toward the anode
on the electrode surfaces having the shortest distance between
them. These electrons impinge on the dielectric molecules of
the insulating medium, breaking these dielectric uid molecules into positive ions and electrons. These secondary
electrons travel along on the same ionization path. This event
causes an increase in the electric eld strength across the work
surfaces and liberates a large number of electrons. It creates an
ionized column in the shortest spark gap between the tool
electrode and the workpiece, thereby decreasing the resistance
of the uid column and causing an electrical discharge in the
shortest distance point between the tool and the workpiece. The

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9994872013; fax: +91 4422232403.


E-mail addresses: muthu1060@gmail.com, muthu_456@yahoo.com (T. Muthuramalingam), mohan@mitindia.edu (B. Mohan).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009
1644-9665/# 2014 Politechnika Wrocawska. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8

archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

3.
Enhancing the performance of pulse
generator

Fig. 1 Basic mechanism involved in EDM.

enormous thermal energy melts and vaporizes the material


from the workpiece, which creates a small crater over the work
surface. There happened a collapse of the ionized column with
the termination of the electrical energy by means of the
switching circuit and then surrounding dielectric uid occupies
its place. The melted debris is removed by the ushing process.
The conduction of dielectric medium can be determined by the
current, duration and pulse energy [1]. Fig. 1 explains the
formation of ionized column in the shortest distance of work
surfaces using the EDM process [1].

2.

State of art in EDM process

Since the electrical discharge machining process is of with


non-linear nature, it requires a lot of improvements on it.
Many authors have discussed about the research works for
improving process efciency of the EDM process. The fundamentals of EDM process mechanism and research works
carried out from the inception to the development of the diesinking EDM process within the past decade have been
discussed by Ho and Newman [2]. It has been reported and
discussed about the EDM researches relating to improve the
process performance measures, optimizing the process variables, and monitoring and control of the sparking process.
Abbas et al. presented the recent research trends to improve
the performance characteristics involved in all the aspects of
electrical discharge machining process. They discussed about
the need for controlling the process parameters to enhance the
machining process efciency of the EDM process [3]. The
development of new technologies for improving the surface
quality of workpiece is a signicant research area in EDM
process. Kumar et al. presented a review on the phenomenon
of surface modication by EDM and future trends of its
applications [4]. It has been observed that most of the research
works concentrated on surface modication using the powder
mixed dielectric medium in EDM process. The study of the
impact of the electrical process parameters on surface
modication of the workpiece has been taken up by very
few researchers.

Since the electrical energy is supplied to the EDM process


informing the DC pulses, the pulse generator needs to be
upgraded to improve the performance measures in the
machining process. The lower energy pulses enhance the
surface nish of the workpiece whereas the higher energy
pulses improve the material removal rate.
Jahan et al. conducted a detailed experimental investigation to nd out the inuence of major operating parameters on
surface quality of tungsten carbide with both transistor and
RC-type generators in EDM process [5]. It has been proved that
RC pulse generator has produced a smoother surface nish
than the transistor pulse generator due to its lower discharge
energy distribution over the surface of tungsten carbide. Han
et al. designed and developed a modied transistor pulse
generator with pulse frequency of 1 MHz to produce higher
material removal rate than the RC pulse generator in the
electrical discharge machining process [6]. They found that the
transistor pulse generator has provided two or three times
higher machining speed than the conventional RC pulse
generator while machining tungsten workpiece with brass
electrode.
A pulse generator based on xed pulse width modulation
has been developed by Yan and Liu to generate the high
frequency 4.4 MHz and short duration pulse control signals to
reduce surface roughness of the workpiece tungsten carbide in
the EDM process [7]. From the experimental results, it has been
observed that the very low discharge energy pulse applied
between tool and electrode has improved the surface quality of
workpiece during the machining process. Yan and Chiang
discussed about the development and application of a new
power supply in wire electrical discharge machining process
[8].
A transistor-controlled power supply composed of a low
energy discharge circuit has been designed to provide the
functions of high frequency and lower energy pulse control.
The experimental results have shown that the low peak
current has been resulted in better surface nish in EDM
process. Muthuramalingam and Mohan discussed about effect
of uniform distribution for improving the surface quality using
iso current pulse generator in EDM process [9]. Fig. 2 shows the
surface quality of workpiece made by three different pulse
generators. It has been observed that the iso current pulse
generator could produce better surface nish than the
conventional pulse generators such as RC pulse generator
and transistor pulse generator.
Han et al. designed and developed a new transistor type
pulse generator with high frequency response to produce
higher erosion rate of the workpiece in the electrical discharge
machining process [10]. From the experimental results, it has
been observed that the modied transistor pulse generator has
produced 24 times higher material removal rate than the RC
pulse generator in the EDM process. Yan and Lai presented the
development of a ne-nish power supply with high frequency in EDM process [11]. This power supply has been composed
with full bridge circuit, two snubber circuits and a pulse control
circuit. It has been found that the proposed power supply has

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8


archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

Fig. 2 Surface topography of machined surface using different pulse generators.

produced lower discharge energy and thus contributed to


lower surface roughness. Muthuramalingam and Mohan
developed a semiconductor based pulse switching circuit to
produce lower energy discharge pulses during nishing level
of the process for enhancing the EDM performance characteristics [12]. Casanueva et al. attempted to establish a new EDM
impulse generator based on high frequency switched DC-toDC series-parallel resonant converter [13]. It has been claimed
that the capacitance effect has affected the overall impedance
of the EDM arrangement and thus altered the machining
characteristics of EDM process.

4.
Inuence of pulse shape on performance
measures
Studying the variation of the EDM process response characteristics due to change in shape of the generated pulse is one
of the research aspects in the EDM process. The discharge
pulse shape affects the average spark energy which is
delivered on the surface. Since the machining characteristics
in EDM process depend on the electrical energy, the pulse
shape which has an effect on the machining characteristics
such as material removal rate, surface quality and electrode
wear rate as shown in Fig. 3.
The effects of the voltage excitation of the pre-ignition
spark pulse on the performance measures such as material
removal rate, electrode wear rate and average surface
roughness have been discussed by Ghoreishi and Tabari
[14]. Based on the results, it is clear that applying voltage
excitation of the pulse has produced an effective pulse which
in turn increased material erosion and surface quality. The
inuence of the current impulse on machining tungsten

carbide and SKD die steel with electrolytic copper tool


electrode in the EDM process has been investigated by Tsai
and Lu [15]. From the experimental results, it has been found
that the material removal rate and tool wear rate have been
affected by the energy density. Muthuramalingam and Mohan
discussed about inuence of discharge current impulse on the
performance measures in EDM process [16].
Son et al. investigated the inuences of electrical pulse
condition on the machining characteristics in the EDM process
[17]. It has been found that the duration of pulse considerably
affects the machining characteristics such as material removal
rate, tool wear rate and surface accuracy. It has also been
realized that the shorter EDM pulse could be efcient to make a
precision part. Liu et al. described the inuence of the EDM
discharge pulse shape on the machining characteristics such
as material removal mechanism of Si3N4TiN [18]. The surface
texture of machined workpiece has been investigated with
different form of discharge pulse such as relaxation and iso
current pulse. It has been proved that uniform discharge
energy has produced good surface topography. Janardhan and
Samuel analyzed the effect of machining parameters on
material removal rate and average surface roughness using
the pulse train data acquired at the spark gap with the help of
MATLAB software package [19]. It has been observed that the
material erosion rate has been increased with decrease in the
pulse off time in EDM process. Yeo et al. proposed a new pulse
discriminating technique for monitoring electrical discharge
machining process [20]. This system has employed the current
pulse as the main detecting parameter as it has been
considered to be a better representation of the spark energy
inside the plasma channel as compared to the voltage. There
should be less arcing effect to enhance the surface nish for an
ideal EDM process. Muthuramalingam and Mohan discussed
and proved that the uniform duration pulse shape for the
discharging phenomenon in EDM process has improved the
surface quality of the workpiece with less arcing effect [21].

5.
Inuence of electrical process parameters
on performance measures
Fig. 3 Relation between pulse shape and machining
characteristics in EDM process.

There are many research works that have been conducted to


nd the inuence of process parameters especially electrical

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8

archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

Fig. 4 SEM images of surface using EDM process.

process parameters on EDM process. Most of the research


works reveal that the discharge current and machining time
have the most inuencing nature on the EDM performance
measures. Fig. 4 shows the SEM images of EDM surface while
machining AISI 202 stainless steel with tungsten carbide tool
electrode.
Gostimirovic et al. investigated the effects of electrical
process parameters on the performances of die-sinking
electrical discharge machining process with RC pulse generator
while machining manganese-vanadium tool steel workpiece
using graphite tool electrode. They found that the discharge
current and pulse duration have highly inuenced the material
removal rate of the EDM process [22]. Mohan et al. analyzed the
effect of EDM process parameters such as electrode material,
polarity, pulse duration, current and rotation of the electrode on
the material removal rate, tool wear rate and surface roughness
[23]. It has been found that the material removal rate and tool
wear rate have been increased with the discharge current during
machining process. Nowicki et al. analyzed the effects
individual electrical discharge on the crater volume of the
workpiece in EDM process [24]. They found that the crater
surface exhibits strong interaction with the electrical discharge
spark. Mohan et al. investigated the surface roughness of the
SiC/6025Al composite surface using electrical discharge machining process with brass as the tool electrode [25]. From the
experimental results, it has been observed that increasing peak
current has resulted in higher surface roughness during the
machining process.
Seo et al. discussed about the drilling process of a
functionally graded 1535 vol.% of silicon carbide particulate
reinforced Al359 metal matrix composite by electrical discharge
machining process to assess the machinability and workpiece
quality [26]. It has been observed that the peak current and pulse
on time have increased the material removal rate. It has also
been reported that increase in percentage SiC particles has
increased the material removal rate and electrode wear rate.
Puertas et al. carried out a study on the inuence of the factors of
current intensity, pulse time and duty cycle over the material
removal rate, surface quality and electrode wear rate [27]. They
modeled the relationship between the input parameters and

response parameters in the die-sinking EDM process using


response surface methodology. It has been concluded that the
lower values of the current intensity and the machining time
have to be used in order to obtain a good surface nish. The use
of the dimensional analysis for investigating the effects of the
electrical and the physical parameters on the material removal
rate of a die-sinking EDM process has been described by Yahya
and Manning [28]. From the experimental results, it has been
found that the material removal rate has been increased with
discharge current, gap voltage and pulse on time.
Huang et al. made an attempt to unveil the inuence of the
process parameters on the machining performances in the EDM
process [29]. It has been found that the pulse on time and spark
gap have the most signicant nature to affect the performance
measures such as surface roughness and white layer depth
using numerical analysis. Kuppan et al. reported about the
experimental investigation of small deep hole drilling of Inconel
718 with electrolytic copper tool electrode using the electrical
discharge machining process [30]. The experimental results
have shown that the material removal rate has been increased
with the increase in the peak current and duty factor. Patel et al.
investigated the feasibility of fabricating micro holes in SiCpAl
composites using electrical discharge machining with a rotary
tube electrode [31]. They have investigated the material removal
rate, electrode wear rate and hole tapper as the responses for the
study. The experimental results have revealed that pulse on
duration has signicantly affected the response characteristics
involved in EDM process. Pelicer et al. focused on investigating
the inuence of EDM process parameters and electrode
geometry on feature micro accuracy on tool steel for mold
fabrication purposes [32]. A set of designed experiments with
varying process parameters such as pulse current, open voltage
and pulse duration have been carried out in H13 steel using
different shaped copper electrodes. It has been concluded that
the triangular shaped electrode would produce highly inefcient output, since the fast wearing nature of the electrode
edges. Wang et al. carried out a series of experiments to
investigate the impacts of machining polarity, electrode
rotation speed and nominal capacitance on the material
removal rate and tool wear rate with poly crystalline diamond
[33]. It has been demonstrated that favorable machining
performance of EDM process on the workpiece could be
achieved in tool with negative polarity as compared to the
positive polarity.
Tosun et al. presented an investigation on the effect and
optimization of machining parameters on kerf and material
removal rate in wire EDM process with Taguchi method [34]. The
experimental studies have been conducted under varying pulse
duration, gap voltage, wire speed and ushing pressure with
AISI 4140 steel as workpiece material. Based on the ANOVA
method, the high effective parameter on both kerf and material
removal rate has been found as pulse duration. Ji et al. presented
a new process of machining SiC ceramics using electrical
discharge milling process [35]. The effects of tool polarity, pulse
duration, voltage and peak current on the process performances
such as material removal rate, electrode wear rate and surface
roughness have been investigated. It has been found that the
negative polarity tool electrode with longer pulse duration has
produced high material removal rate and surface roughness.
Rebelo et al. presented an experimental study on the effect of

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8


archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

electric discharge machining parameters on material removal


rate and surface quality with high strength copperberyllium
alloys [36]. They found that the plasma diameter has been
decreased with pulse duration and discharge current during the
machining process.
Yu et al. examined the use of electrical discharge machining on machining poly-crystalline silicon [37]. The effects of
different WEDM process parameters on machining characteristics have been explored. From the experimental results, it
has been indicated that the pulse on time has the great
inuence on the cutting speed in Wire EDM process. Batish
et al. investigated the effect of process parameters and
mechanism of material deposition in electric discharge
machining on surface properties of EN31, H11 and high carbon
high chromium die steel materials [38]. It has been discussed
about material transfer mechanism involved in EDM process.
It has been found that die steels have been machined
effectively with copper tool electrode using EDM process.
Patel et al. presented a detailed experimental investigation of
machining characteristics such as surface integrity and
material removal mechanisms of advanced ceramic composite Al2O3SiCwTiC with EDM process [39]. It has been
concluded that the surface roughness and material removal
rate have been increased with pulse duration in EDM process.

6.
Inuence of discharge energy on
performance measures
In view of the fact that when the discharge energy is converted
into the thermal energy to melt and vaporize the material in
EDM process, it is unavoidable to discuss the inuence of the
pulse energy on the machining characteristics in such a
process.
Jahan et al. conducted an experimental investigation with
the view of obtaining ne surface nish in die-sinking EDM
process of tungsten carbide using different tool electrodes
such as tungsten, copper tungsten and silver tungsten [40]. It
has been found that the surface nish has been inuenced by
the discharge energy during machining process. It has been
realized that the lower discharge energy has produced good
surface nish. Yeo et al. discussed about the machining of
zirconium based bulk metallic glass by EDM process with
different tool electrodes such as copper, brass and tungsten
rod electrode [41]. The experimental results have shown
that the usage of lower input energy has produced the
lower surface roughness and electrode tool wear. Khanra
et al. investigated the inuence of energy input on the
workpiece surface during the machining in the EDM process.
In this experimental investigation, a well-polished mild steel
(C 0.18%) plate has been used for machining by EDM [42]. It has
been observed that the energy input has inuenced the debris
particle size in the EDM process.
Popa et al. showed the importance of optimizing the
process parameters that could inuence the quality of the EDM
process [43]. They formulated the equation of crater depth in
terms of discharge energy in EDM process. From the relation, it
has been observed that the crater depth has been increased
with the discharge current owing through the workpiece and
tool electrode. Kojima et al. described about the spectroscopic

measurement of arc plasma diameter in EDM [44]. They found


that the arc plasma has been increased with increasing
discharge current. It has been veried that crater diameter and
depth decrease with increasing gap width due to the increased
plasma diameter. The arc plasma diameter has been increased
with increasing spark gap and thus claried the reason for
lower material removal rate and smoother surface nish with
longer spark gap. Wong et al. developed a single spark pulse
generator using resistancecapacitance arrangement to study
the erosion characteristics in the EDM process from the crater
size [45].
The volume and size of the craters have been found to be
more consistent at lower energy discharge sparks than the
higher energy discharge sparks. The higher energy pulse leads
to the micro surface crack on the work surface. Guu et al.
aimed to investigate the machining characteristics of manganesezinc ferrite magnetic materials using electrical discharge
machining process [46]. The experimental results have
indicated that the morphology of debris revealed the mechanism of material removal. It has been observed that the better
machined surface has been obtained by setting process
parameters at low pulse energy. Nowicki et al. made an
attempt to machine supercial layer of the workpiece using
brush EDM process by modifying the spark energy [47]. The
theoretical modeling of the EDM process based upon the heat
transfer equations has been established by Singh [48]. In the
study, the input energy equation has been developed as a
function of pulse duration, current, polarity of electrode and
properties of the workpiece and tool electrodes. This model
has been helpful to calculate the optimal process parameters
for obtaining optimum discharge energy.

7.

Monitoring and control of the EDM process

The EDM process parameters have to be monitored during the


machining process so that the controlling of those parameters
can be done to obtain the required response parameters. The
main action of monitoring and controlling the process is to
observe and measure process parameters to reduce the
deviation of performance measures from the expected level.
An adaptive control system for process monitoring,
identication and control in the wire electrical discharge
machining process has been developed by Yan [49]. It has been
realized that the wire breaking has been controlled by
adjustment of pulse interval of each pulse cycle of supply.
Caydas et al. developed an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference
system model for the prediction of the surface roughness of
machined surface using wire EDM process as a function of
process parameters such as open circuit voltage, pulse
duration and wire feed rate [50]. From the experimental
results, it has been found that the proposed control system has
improved the surface quality in EDM process.
Yilmaz et al. introduced a used friendly intelligent system
based on the knowledge of the skilled operators for the
selection of the EDM process parameters for machining AISI
4340 stainless steel [51]. The system has been provided with a
compact selection tool based on expert rules and enabled an
unskilled user to select necessary parameters which lead to
lower electrode wear rate and better surface quality. Zhou and

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8

archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

Han developed an adaptive control system which directly and


automatically has regulated the tool down time for improving
the process performance in EDM process [52]. It has been
observed that this adaptive system would improve the
machining rate, due to the automatic adjustment of spark
gap. Yan and Chien developed a new pulse discriminating and
control system for process monitoring in EDM process [53]. The
effects of pulse interval, machining feed rate and workpiece on
the variation of the proportion of normal spark, arc and short
circuit in the total spark have been discussed. The experimental results have indicated that the developed control system
has signicantly reduced the arc discharge in EDM process to
achieve stable machining.
Chang designed a proportional derivative controller of the
spark gap between an electrode and a workpiece to analyze the
non-linearity involved in EDM process [54]. They concluded
that this non-linearity has reduced the effective discharge in
electrical discharge machining process. Behrens and Ginzel
proposed a neuro-fuzzy based gap width controller for a highly
efcient removal mechanism in EDM process [55]. The
experimental results have indicated that the proposed
controller has enhanced EDM process to achieve the better
surface nish of workpiece. Kao and Shih monitored the
discharge current in electrical discharge machining using high
speed data acquisition with high frequency response [56].
From the experimental results, it has been found that decrease
in air gap between tool and workpiece has improved the
material removal rate in EDM process.
Tong et al. designed an experimental system with a macro/
micro dual feed spindle to improve the machining performance of servo scanning micro EDM process, which utilized an
ultrasonic linear motor as the macro drive and a piezoelectric
actuator as micro feeding mechanism [57]. Based on LabVIEW
software package, a real time control system has been
developed to control coordinately the dual-feed spindle to
drive the tool electrode. Fenggou and Dayong presented a
method to automatically determine and optimize the process
parameters on the EDM sinking process with the application of
articial neural network [58]. The experimental results have
proved that automatic determination of current value would
be the efcient method on improving EDM performance.

8.

Modeling of EDM process parameters

The process parameters modeling helps to analyze the


inuence process parameters on the machining characteristics in any of the machining process. This section is
discussed about the mathematical modeling of process
parameters and simulation models in the EDM process.

8.1.

Theoretical modeling of EDM process

Since the two electrical conductors such as tool electrode and


workpiece are separated by a dielectric medium, the EDM
arrangement can be modeled as a capacitor. Liu et al.
constructed a plate capacitor model for electrical discharge
machining process [59]. The correlation actions of process
parameters and energy distribution have been discussed
based on the eld electron emission theory. It has been

observed that machining time plays a major role to improve


the process efciency. Das and Joshi developed a comprehensive mathematical model to predict the spark erosion rate
involved in EDM process [60]. They found that the plasma
current and plasma radius have been increased with pulse
duration. Salonitis et al. developed the thermal based model
for the determination of the material removal rate and average
surface roughness achieved as a function of the process
parameters in the EDM process [61]. Spadlo et al. developed a
thermo model for brush electrical discharge alloying process
[62]. It has been realized that material removal depends on the
discharge current pulse owing through the dielectric medium.

8.2.

Optimization of EDM process

Most of the research works have been carried out to optimize


the electrical process parameters in EDM process. Marafona
and Wykes described an investigation into the optimization of
material removal rate in the electric discharge machining
process with copper tungsten tool electrode [63]. From the
experimental results, it has been proved that large current
intensity would result in higher material removal rate.
Matoorian et al. presented the application of the Taguchi
robust design methods to optimize the precision and accuracy
of the EDM process for machining of precise cylindrical forms
on hard and difcult-to-machine materials [64]. They found
that the current intensity of the EDM process affects the
material removal rate greatly. Muthuramalingam and Mohan
developed Taguchi-DEAR methodology based optimization of
electrical process parameters [65]. Tzeng and Chen described
about the application of the fuzzy logic analysis coupled with
Taguchi methods to optimize the precision and accuracy of the
high speed electrical discharge machining process [66]. The
most important factors affecting the precision and accuracy of
the high speed EDM process have been identied as duty cycle
and peak current. Kuriakose and Shunmugam developed a
multiple regression model to represent relationship between
the input and output process variables [67]. They have done
the multi objective optimization method based on nondominated sorting genetic algorithm to optimize the EDM
process parameters.

9.

Conclusion

The present study discussed about the review of contribution


of electrical process parameters for efcient EDM process in
various aspects such as state of art, inuence of the discharge
energy, modeling of EDM process parameters, pulse generators, pulse shape, monitoring the parameters and optimization of EDM process parameters. The review has been carried
out in all aspects and types of EDM process such as die-sinking
EDM, wire EDM and micro EDM. The following conclusions can
be mainly made based on the literatures:
(i) Most of the literatures have discussed about inuence of
process parameters on the performance measures,
modeling and optimization of process parameters involved in the electro erosion process.

Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

ACME-201; No. of Pages 8


archives of civil and mechanical engineering xxx (2014) xxxxxx

(ii) It has been found that peak current and pulse duration are
dominating the performance measures in EDM process.
(iii) It has been observed that only less attention has been
given for enhancing the electrical process parameters in
EDM process in terms of pulse modication, monitoring
and adaptive controlling of the process parameters.
(iv) It has also been observed that only very few literatures are
available describing the hybrid modern manufacturing
techniques such as electro chemical discharge machining
(ECDM).

references

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[3] N.M. Abbas, D.G. Solomon, M. Fuad Bahari, A review on
current research trends in electrical discharge machining,
International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 47
(2007) 12141228.
[4] S. Kumar, R. Singh, T.P. Singh, B.L. Sethi, Surface modication
by electrical discharge machining: a review, Journal of
Materials Processing Technology 209 (2009) 36753687.
[5] M.P. Jahan, Y.S. Wong, M. Rahman, A study on the ne-nish
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Please cite this article in press as: T. Muthuramalingam, B. Mohan, A review on inuence of electrical process parameters in EDM process,
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.02.009

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