Machinability Assessment of Low Electrically Conductive Ceramics using Wire EDM

Abstract

ii newlineAbstract newlineThe progression of technological advances is encouraging the use of new materials to fulfil the need newlinefor unconventional and smarter products. Making these products need lighter and stronger materials newlinethat offer high resistance to extreme environmental conditions like high temperature, high speed, newlinehigh pressure, working without lubrication, or sometimes in a vacuum and strong radiation newlineenvironment or highly corrosive condition. Ceramic materials are considered to be one of the main newlinecontenders in various structural and functional applications with their enormous properties fulfilling newlinethe above requirements. The applications of ceramic materials are not limited to aerospace and newlineautomobile but their properties like hardness, compressive strength, and resistance to abrasion, newlinechemical inertness, thermal insulation, and nonmagnetic nature expand the applicability to much newlinewider spectrum. Due to this, ceramic materials are continuously acquiring industrial importance. newlineHowever, the desirable properties of ceramic materials become an obstacle to shaping those products newlineeffectively and economically. The absence of slip planes and valance electrons makes them newlineextremely brittle and poor conductors of heat and electricity. The shaping methods used in ceramics newlinefaces difficulty providing the contraction allowance and hence post-processing becomes newlineunavoidable. The post-processing in the hardened state becomes inefficient and uneconomical. The newlinemethods employed to shape ceramics in the hardened state face many difficulties. newlineElectrical discharge machining (EDM) offers a better solution compared with existing techniques. newlineThe wire EDM can produce three-dimensional products with close dimensional tolerances and better newlinesurface properties. But, as we know, the material has to satisfy the minimum electrical conductivity newlinelimit (resistivity lt100 and#8486;cm or conductivity gt0.01 s/cm). This limit can be reached by creating newlineelectro-conductive ceramics. But, adding TiN, TiC, TiCN, TiB2 conductive phase to ceramic newlinematerial