Experimental study on wire electrical discharge machining of al sic tic composites

Abstract

The wire electrical discharge machining process is a potential newlinecandidate to cut any intricate shape in conductive materials (electrical newlineresistivity lt 100 and#937;-cm) regardless of its hardness. Some of the researches newline(Kozak et al. (2004), Mohri et al. (2002), Tani et al. (2004)) have attempted newlineto process low conductive and insulating ceramics in WEDM process. These newlineattempts are literally stretching the capability of the WEDM process. After, newline2004, no good research is reported in the area of WEDM of low conductive newlinematerials. Hence, in the present work a potential low conductive metal matrix newlinecomposite (Al-SiC-TiC) was prepared for processing the same in the WEDM newlineprocess. newlineThe Al-SiC-TiC composites of various compositions namely, newline75% Al + 20% SiC + 5% TiC ; 70% Al + 20% SiC + 10% TiC and newline65% Al + 20% SiC + 15% TiC were prepared. The received Aluminium (Al), newlineSilicon carbide (SiC) and Titanium carbide (TiC) powders are ball milled to newlinereduce the particle size, powder blending and mixing operation. By using newlineTOPSIS method the ball milling parameters are optimized. The optimal newlineparameters are the ball size of 8 mm, milling time of 4 h, rotation speed of newline250 rpm and ball weight ratio of 10:1. The powdered mixture was compacted newlineto a pellet in a square die, pressurized to 8 to 9 tons, and further sintered at a newlinetemperature of 500 °C for a duration of two hours and placed in the furnace newline