Title: Surface modification of C40 steel using WC-Cu P/M green compact electrodes in EDM

Authors: Promod K. Patowari, Upendra K. Mishra, Partha Saha, Prasanta K. Mishra

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Silchar 788010, Assam, India. ' TATA Motors Limited, Jamshedpur 831010, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Pune 411005, India

Abstract: This study deals with surface modification of C-40 grade steel using P/M (powder metallurgy) green compacts of WC–Cu mixture as the EDM tool during a die sinking operation in hydrocarbon dielectric fluid. An L8 Taguchi array is used to investigate the process by varying tool parameters like composition and compaction pressure and EDM operating parameters like polarity, peak-current and pulse-duration. An optimal condition, for getting a uniform layer over the surface, is achieved using OEC (overall evaluation criteria). At the optimum condition, a layer thickness of 48.9μm and an increase in hardness up to 1632Hv are achieved.

Keywords: EDM; electrical discharge machining; electro-discharge machining; surface modification; Taguchi methods; powder metallurgy; steel; die sinking; hydrocarbon dielectric fluids; composition; compaction pressure; polarity; peak current; pulse duration; layer thickness; hardness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2010.034288

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.21 No.1/2, pp.83 - 98

Published online: 31 Jul 2010 *

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