Predictive Analysis of Material Removal Rate during EDM Machining of Niti60 Alloy using Taguchi Technique and Empirical Modeling: Comparative Investigation

In current manufacturing industries, special attention is given to dimensional accuracy, cost, and material removal rate (Mrr), etc. Out of which Mrr is considered to be the dominating factor to pass the improvement in productivity of any industrial firm. With this intention, the current research is focused on improvement in MRR in Die sink Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process of NiTi60alloy. Initially, taguchi analysis is carried out to determine the effect of machining variables like the current, voltage, pulse on and pulse off on Mrr by using L9 orthogonal array method. Later on, an empirical model was developed by using Buckingham's pie theorem to estimate Mrr. The comparative investigation was carried out between experimental and empirical Mrr, which shows good agreement between them. From experimental and empirical model results it is observed that Mrr seems to be increasing with an increase in current from 4 to 8 ampere and pulse on time from 5 to 9 µs. Thus, current and pulse on time are observed to be the dominating variables for Mrr as compared to other machining variables. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed to analyze the effect of improvement in Mrr on the machined surface.