International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)

Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 170
WEAR REDUCTION OF ALUMINIUM ELECTRODE BY CRYOGENIC
TREATMENT IN ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING
Amoljit Singh Gill
1
, Sanjeev Kumar
2
1. Mechanical Engineering Dept., PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh-160012, India.
2.
Mechanical Engineering Dept., PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh-160012, India

Email: amol_gill@rediffmail.com) (Corresponding author)


ABSTRACT

Deep Cryogenic

Treatment (DCT) is a process in which the material

is subjected to very low temperature of the
order

of 185 C and below, to cause beneficial changes in

the material properties. It makes the crystal more
perfect, stronger, relieves

residual stresses, and improves electrical properties. Electro discharge machining (EDM)

is a well known non-traditional machining process, which converts electrical

energy to thermal energy and removes
material by

melting and evaporation from electrically conductive materials. In this process the dimensional stability
and machined surface characteristics depends greatly on electrode wear. In this research work, the effect of
cryogenic treatment on

the wear of tool electrode is experimentally investigated using Taguchi design approach.
The study has been carried out on hot die steel (AISI H11) using Aluminium as tool material. Experiments were
conducted to study the effect

of various process parameters. The results of study suggest that deep cryogenic
treatment significantly reduces electrode wear.

Keywords: Electrical discharge machining; Aluminium tool electrode; Deep cryogenic treatment; Tool wear; AISI
H11 hot die steel.


1. Introduction

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a thermo-
electric process which erodes material from the
workpiece by a series of discrete sparks between the
the electrodes submerged in a dielectric fluid [1]. The
sparks, occurring at high frequency, generate a narrow
plasma channel having a high energy density and high
temperature (8,00012,000C) that melts and
evaporates a small amount of workpiece [2]. Each
discharge results in a tiny crater both on the tool and
the workpiece surface. The size of the craters is
related to the released discharge energy at the
discharge location. The dielectric evacuates the
resolidified debris from the gap and acts as a
deionising medium between two electrodes assuring
optimal conditions for spark generation. The thermal
nature of EDM allows machining any electrical
conductive material irrespective of its hardness and
strength [3]. Generally, EDM allows the shaping of
complex structures with high accuracy in the order of
several micrometres and achievable surface roughness
[4]. The surface texture created by the sparks has a
matte appearance covered by shallow craters, debris
particles that are resolidified after the discharge, and
pockmarks formed by entrapped gases escaping from
the resolidifying material.
The most important performance measures in
EDM process are the surface roughness, material
removal rate (MRR), and electrode wear (EW) [5].
Efforts have been done on fast machining with better
surface finish and less tool wear. The quality of a
machined surface is an important factor in evaluating
the productivity of machine tools and machined parts.
Surface roughness is significant design factor that has
a considerable influence on properties such as fatigue
strength, corrosion and wear resistance. It is therefore
important to achieve a good surface finish [6]. In the
past few decades, many methods were studied to
improve surface finish in EDM process. These include
making an electrode planetary movement at the lateral
gap allowing dielectrics to flow in from one side and
leave at the other side of workpiece [7]. Several
authors [8] utilised magnetic field to transport
magnetic debris through the gap. Guu and Hocheng
[9] improved the circulation of the dielectric fluid in
the spark gap by providing a workpiece rotary motion
that effects temperature distribution of the workpiece
yielding better MRR and SR. Similarly, the rotary
motion has been introduced to the electrode to
improve the performance measures of the EDM
process. It serves as an effective gap flushing
technique, which significantly improves the MRR and
SR [10, 11].
Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a onetime
permanent process. There is not a standard process for
cryogenic treatments but most of them are quite
similar. In conventional cryogenic treatments the
materials are slowly cooled down to a temperature
around -185C and maintained for a period of time
that lasts from eight hours to two or even more
days. After the soak, the materials are slowly heated
up to ambient temperature [12].
International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 171
The cryogenic treatments are performed in
chambers designed for this purpose. The material
is usually cooled using liquid nitrogen that is
introduced in the processor through solenoid valves
controlled by computer. Most of the modern
chambers have heaters that also allow controlling the
temperature during the heating phases of the process.
The DCT has a lot of benefits. It not only gives
dimensional stability to the material, but also
improves wear resistance, strength and hardness of the
materials [13, 14]. It is believed that cryogenic
processing makes the crystal more perfect and
therefore stronger. Besides, there is some amount of
grain size refinement and grain boundary realignment
occurring in the material. These two aspects lead to a
tremendous improvement in the electrical and thermal
conductivity of the material thus transporting the heat
generated during the operation of the tool away from
the source and increasing its life.

2. Experimentation

Material employed in this study was AISI H11
hot die steel. It is a high alloy tool steel, and well
known for high hardness and toughness. The chemical
composition of H11 is 0.36% C, 1% Si, 0.4% Mn, 5%
Cr, 0.4% V, 1% Mo. The specimens were then heat
treated to relieve the residual stresses. Experiments
were conducted on die-sinking Electrical Discharge
Machine Elektra EMS 5535, Electronica Machine
Tools, India. Cylindrical electrodes used in the
experimentation are deep cryogenic treated aluminium
and non cryogenic treated aluminium (electrolytic
copper of 99.9% purity) with a nominal diameter of
15 mm. Machining time for each cut was 12 minutes.
In this experiment, there were four controlled
variables investigated including peak current (I), pulse
on-time (Ton), duty factor () and gap voltage (V).
Three levels of each factor were selected for the
experimentation. To evaluate the effects of machining
parameters on performance characteristic (Tool Wear,
TW), and to identify the performance characteristics
under the optimal machining parameters, a specially
designed experimental procedure is required [15, 16].
Classical experimental design methods are too
complex and difcult to use. Additionally, large
number of experiments has to be carried out when
number of machining parameters increases [17, 18].
In this study, Taguchi method, a powerful tool for
parameter design of performance characteristics, was
used to determine optimal machining parameters for
minimum TW. In Taguchi method, process
parameters which inuence the products are separated
into two main groups: control factors and noise factors
[19]. The control factors are used to select the best
conditions for stability in design of manufacturing
process, whereas the noise factors denote all factors
that cause variation. Taguchi proposed to acquire the
characteristic data by using orthogonal arrays, and to
analyze the performance measure from the data to
decide the optimal process parameters [16, 19]. This
method uses a special design of orthogonal arrays to
study the entire parameter space with small number of
experiments only. In this study, four machining
parameters were used as control factors and each
parameter was designed to have three levels, denoted
L1, L2 and L3 (Table 1). According to the Taguchi
quality design concept, a L9 orthogonal arrays table
with 9 rows (corresponding to the number of
experiments) was chosen for the experiments (Table
2).

Table 1. Levels of input machining parameters

Parameter L1 L2 L3
I (Amps) 5 10 15
T
on
(Sec) 100 150 200
(%) 64 80 96
V (V) 30 40 50
3. Results and Discussions
Experiments were conducted by fixing the
parameters according to L9 OA using non-cryogenic
treated aluminium electrode and cryogenic treated
aluminium electrode. The standard procedure
suggested by Taguchi is employed. The mean or the
average values and S/N ratio of the response/quality
characteristic for each parameter at different levels
have been calculated from experimental data. For the
graphical representation of the change in value of
quality characteristic and that of S/N ratio with the
variation in process parameters, the response curves
have been plotted. These response curves have been
used for examining the parametric effects on the
response characteristic.

Table 2. Orthogonal array L9 matrix

Experiment
Current
(Amps)
A
On
time
(Sec)
B
Duty
factor
(%) C
Voltage
(V)
D
1 5 100 96 40
2 5 150 64 50
3 5 200 80 30
4 10 100 64 30
5 10 150 80 40
6 10 200 96 50
7 15 100 80 50
8 15 150 96 30
9 15 200 64 40
The most favorable conditions (optimal settings) of
process parameters in terms of mean response of
characteristic have been established by analyzing
response curves. Tool Wear is required to be as low as
possible so S/N ratio was calculated for lower-the-
better type (LB) of response characteristic as:
International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 172
(S/N)
LB
= 10 log [
Where, y
j
= Observed value of the response
characteristic.
R = Number of repetitions
The next step of the Taguchi approach is to predict
and verify the enhancement of quality characteristics
using the optimal parametric combination. The
estimated S/N ratio using the optimal level of the
design parameters can be calculated as:


Where is the total mean S/N ratio, is the mean
S/N ratio at optimum level and o is the number of
main design parameter that affect quality
characteristic.

A. Results with non cryogenic aluminium
electrode
The average values of TW and S/N ratio for each
parameter at level 1, 2 and 3 were calculated and
given in Table 3 and these values are plotted in Fig. 1.
It can be observed from Fig. 1 (a) that higher current
increases TW which is a well known fact, because of
high energy per discharge. Second level of current
(i.e. 10 Amps) would be optimum as S/N ratio is
maximum at this level. Similarly, Fig. 1 (b) shows
that TW is minimum at moderate values of pulse on-
time which corroborates earlier findings. Fig. 1 (c)
shows that a moderate value of duty factor gives
lower TW. TW varies slightly with increase in open
circuit voltage [Fig. 1 (d)]. With increase in open
circuit voltage Electric field strength increases which
results in more electrode wear. On the other hand,
lower open circuit voltage decreases working gap,
which leads to insufficient flushing and destabilized
arc.
Table 3. Observed values of TW (non cryogenic aluminium
electrode)
Exp.
No.
TW (%)
S/N Ratio
Run 1 Run 2 Run3
1 0.30192 0.38461 0.35774 9.12386
2 0.20438 0.25997 0.25367 12.37311
3 0.22457 0.20911 0.34341 11.50603
4 0.50198 0.5545 0.48342 5.777664
5 0.103429 0.079273 0.09239 20.70274
6 0.21748 0.28402 0.17962 12.72382
7 0.45073 0.53591 0.54294 5.821737
8 0.33674 0.39958 0.37311 8.619405
9 0.52193 0.55734 0.5143 5.489594
From the main effect plots, the best combination of
input process parameters for the lowest value of
surface roughness is found to be A
2
B
2
C
2
D
2
and the
experimental value of Ra at this setting was
0.08897%.

(a)


(b)

(c)

(d)
Fig. 1. Effect of various parameters on Average
values of TW and S/N ratio (Non cryogenic treated
aluminium electrode)

Based on the above equation, the estimated multi-
response signal to noise ratio can be obtained as:
International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 173
= 10.23755 + (13.06807-10.23755) + (13.89842-
10.23755) + (12.67683-10.23755) + (11.77206-
10.23755)
= 20.70273
And the calculated value of TW =
= 0.0922 %, which shows only 3.5% error with
experimental result.
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrograph of
the workpiece surface after machining with non-
cryogenic treated aluminium electrode (Fig. 2) shows
some micro-cracks and small depositions of the
resolidified material which are the characteristic
features of EDM.



Fig. 2. SEM micrograph after machining with non-
cryogenic treated Aluminium electrode at 1000x
(Peak current = 10 A, Pulse On-time = 150 s, Duty Factor
= 80%, Gap Voltage = 40 V)
B. Results with cryogenic treated
aluminium electrode
The average values of TW and S/N ratio for each
parameter at level 1, 2 and 3 were calculated from
Table 4 and these values are plotted in Fig. 3. It is
observed that cryogenic treatment has significantly
affected the response to each parameter. The most
important observation is seen for peak current where
TW reports a steady decline with decrease in peak
current. Fig. 3 (b) shows that the response of TW to
variation in pulse on-time is almost the same there is
an initial sharp decrease and then it again increases.
Hence, the fact that lower pulse on-time reduces TW
holds good after cryogenic treatment also. There is a
sharp decrease in TW with increase in duty factor
upto moderate level then it remains almost constant
[Fig. 3 (c)].

Table 4. Observed values of TW (cryogenic aluminium
electrode)
Exp.
No.
TW (%) S/N
Ratio
Run 1 Run 2 Run3
1 0.14109 0.13367 0.13951 17.19444
2 0.12355 0.13371 0.12896 17.80122
3 0.22541 0.19895 0.14588 14.29178
4 0.64329 0.59255 0.60148 4.253069
5 0.099811 0.09321 0.09583 20.32556
6 0.10288 0.17712 0.22706 15.06254
7 0.38228 0.4465 0.38748 7.81954
8 0.41178 0.36196 0.40385 8.109098
9 0.33453 0.39733 0.40658 8.385434


(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)
Fig. 3. Effect of various parameters on Average values of
TW and S/N ratio. (Cryogenic treated aluminium electrode).
International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 174
From the main effect plots, the best combination of
input process parameters for the lowest value of TW
is found to be A1 B2 C2 D2. The experimental value
of Ra at this setting was 0.07029 % and the estimated
S/N ratio can be calculated as:
= 12.58252 + (16.42914-12.58252) + (15.41196-
12.58252) + (14.14563-12.58252) + (15.30181-
12.58252)
= 23.54098
And the calculated value of SR = =
0.066519%, which is very close to the experimental
value with only 5.7% error. SEM micrograph (Fig. 4)
of the machined surface, at the setting shows a smooth
surface without any micro-cracks.



Fig. 4. SEM micrograph after machining with cryogenic
treated aluminium electrode at 1000x
(Peak current = 5 A, Pulse On-time = 150 s, Duty Factor =
80%, Gap Voltage = 40 V)

After the cryogenic treatment of tool electrode, there
is a substantial decrease in tool wear which is due to
the strengthening of crystal structure and reduction in
the lattice defects. More importantly, tool wear has
decreased even at higher values of peak current and it
has a profound positive effect on the surface finish of
the machined surface also. A comparison of the
results obtained before and after cryogenic treatment
has been presented in Table 5.
Table 5. Comparison of tool wear and optimal combination
of factors
Electrode
Material
Type of
Electrode
Tool
Wear
(%)
Optimum
combination
of factors
Aluminium
Non
Cryogenic
Treated
0.0922

A
2
B
2
C
2
D
2

Cryogenic
Treated
0.066519

A
1
B
2
C
2
D
2

4. Conclusions
Experiments were conducted on H11 hot die steel by
EDM using non-cryogenic treated aluminium
electrode and cryogenic treated aluminium electrode.
The following conclusions can be drawn from this
experimental work:
(1) Cryogenic treatment significantly affects the
performance of EDM aluminium electrode.
(2) After comparing the results for surface
roughness before and after deep cryogenic
treatment of the aluminium electrode, 27.85%)
improvement is reported.
(3) It is found that the optimum combination of the
process parameters also changes as a result of
cryogenic treatment.
(4) Tool wear of machined surface is critical in
EDM. Since cryogenic treatment has a
significant positive effect on this parameter, it
can be recommended that EDM tool electrodes
should be cryogenically treated.
(5) More experiments need to be conducted on
other varieties of die steel materials like oil
hardening non-shrinkable (OHNS) die steels
and high carbon high chromium die steels to
conclusively establish the positive effect of
deep cryogenic treatment on the performance
of EDM tool electrodes.

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International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Paper selected for publishing in International Journal of Surface engineering and Materials Technology

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway, Kapurthala, Punjab-144601 (INDIA) 175
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