Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625

using Taguchi’s approach
M. Subrahmanyam ⇑, T. Nancharaiah
Bapatla Engineering College, Bapatla, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Wire EDM is a precise and efficient manufacturing route in many applications. In the present research,
Received 7 May 2019 TAGUCHI METHOD was used for analysis of effect of wire EDM process parameters on material removal
Received in revised form 19 May 2019 rate (MRR)and surface roughness (SR) on INCONEL 625 alloy. Different parameters like pulse off time,
Accepted 21 May 2019
pulse on time and servo voltage are used to optimize the material removal rate and surface roughness
Available online xxxx
by MINITAB 17. Taguchi orthogonal array L9 along with ANOVA is used for optimizing three different
parameters so that maximum material removal rate and minimum surface roughness is obtained.
Keywords:
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Wire EDM
Taguchi method
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International
Process parameters Conference on Recent Advances in Materials, Manufacturing & Energy Systems.
Optimization
ANOVA
INCONEL 625

1. Introduction the process capabilities of the wire electric discharge machining

Wire electric discharge machining process has been recognized
as a vital non-conventional thermoelectric machining method to
machine electrically conductive materials [1]. The mechanism of
material removal is the same as the general EDM process [2]. The
cutting is carried out by electric sparks, which have been set up
and controlled with the help of a generator. Since the wire elec-
trode is not quite touching the workpiece, the permissible voltage
of electric charge is produced, so that permits it to cross the dis-
tance between electrode and workpiece, and zaps off a slight bit
of the workpiece [2]. The electrolyte not only washes away the
debris between the wire electrode and workpiece to restrict them
from being obstacles for the next spark but also cools down the
cutting zone [3]. This process is used in the automotive and aero-
space, die & tool manufacturing industries. It is possible to obtain
and measure the desired surface finish on a workpiece during
machining in wire EDM process in any intricate shape of the work-
piece irrespective of its hardness.
It is very important to know the process capabilities of any
machining process, so that the parameters will be set in such a
way that the process can give optimum results. The work mainly
focused on the evaluation of influence of process parameters on
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: msm9652@gmail.com (M. Subrahmanyam).
process also optimizing the process parameters for higher material
removal rate and lower surface roughness.
2. Literature review
Literature reveals findings on Wire-cut Electro Discharge
Machining of various materials. Most of the work is reported to
study the parameters like Pulse on time, pulse off time and servo
voltage, wire tension, wire speed, to find out Surface roughness,
Material removal rate (MRR)and Kerf width using different types
of tools and with the help of design of experiments and statistical
optimization techniques. From the below-referred papers, some
conclusion came out and help us to decide the further work to opti-
mize and analyze the given below process parameters on WEDM.
Amitesh Goswami and Jatinder Kumar [1] carried out a study on
the influence of WEDM parameters in the case of Nimonic-80A
alloy. In this experiment Ton, Toff, SV, IP, WF, WT are taken as vari-
able input parameters and the output parameters observed are
MRR, Ra. It is clearly drawn that out of the input parameters varied
Ton, Toff has influenced nearly 80% on MRR and Ton and SV have
more influence on surface roughness. From this, we can build a
co-relation between the surface quality and energy input rate.
The high energy input condition exhibited rougher surface,
whereas the better surface quality was obtained under low energy
input conditions.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Advances in Materials, Manufacturing & Energy Systems.

Please cite this article as: M. Subrahmanyam and T. Nancharaiah, Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625 using Taguchi’s
approach, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449
2 M. Subrahmanyam, T. Nancharaiah / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Anrug Joshi [2] had experimented WEDM of EN-31 tool steel Table 1
which has a extensive variety of applications in industries. He Machine Specifications.

had chosen pulse off time, pulse on time, bed speed peak current S.no Characteristics Range
as inputs and Mini tab software for optimizing these parameters. 1 Max work size accommodated 440 * 650 * 200 mm
It was clearly drawn that at pulse on of 24 microseconds and pulse 2 Max workpiece weight 300 kg
off of 6 microseconds achieved maximum MRR. The analysis had 3 Main table traverse (X Y) 300 mm & 400 mm
predicted the MRR with 6.7% accuracy. 4 Main table positioning accuracy 0.005 mm
5 Max Tapper angle ±30°/50°
AVS Ramprasad and Kunna Ramji Detta G [3] conducted exper- 6 Max feed rate 800–900 mm/min
iments on WEDM of Ti-6AI 4 V alloy using brass electrode. Taguchi 7 Wire electrode diameter 0.25 mm (std.)
is the methodology used in this experiment for optimization of 8 Wire feed rate 0–15 m/min
input parameters. The input parameters are peak current, pulse 9 Best surface finish 0.8 µ Ra on HCHC Steel
on time, pulse off time, servo voltage. Based on investigation it
was found that peak current and pulse on time has more signifi-
cance whereas pulse off time and servo voltage were less active.
Jaskarn Singh, Mr.Rishvaraj Singh and M.Rakesh kumar [4] had
experimented WEDM of Aluminum alloy AISI 304 steel using brass
electrode. Pulse off time, pulse on time, servo voltage, dielectric
flow rate, peak current, wire speed are used as variable input
parameters. With an increase in Pulse on time and peak current
MRR increases. If pulse off time is reduced cutting speed increases.
Higher the vibration amplitude and decreases wire tension
decrease the cut width which leads to wire breakage.

3. Experimentation

Experiments were performed on a wire-cut EDM machine with

specification like design fixed column, moving table type with a
size of the workpiece 250 * 350 mm, type of interpolation is linear,
power supply 3 phase, AC 415 V, 50 Hz.
The work material is INCONEL 625 of size 30*15*2 mm plate.
Wire diameter 0.25 mm made of Brass is used for the experiment.
The wire is tensioned between the lower and upper guide to
obtained higher accuracy.
Dielectric fluid is deionized water with 12 to 16 TDS (total dis-
solved solids).For measurmentof the Surface roughness, surface
roughness tester was used (see Fig. 1 and Table 1).
4. Procedure to calculate MRR and surface roughness
The mechanism behind material removal of EDM process is
based on the transfiguration of electrical energy to thermal energy
that categorized it to electrothermal process [5]. During the
machining, both of the working surfaces may have present smooth
and irregularities which causes minimum and the maximum gap in
between the tool and workpiece [4]. At a given instant at a mini-
mum point, suitable voltage is developed produce electrostatic
field for the emission of electrons from the cathode there electrons
accelerated towards the anode [6]. After high-velocity electrons
Fig. 2. Talysurf.
collide with the dielectric molecules, breaking them into negative
and positive ions. Because of that spark is generated with high-
temperature causes melting and vaporization of material from
the workpiece [6].
MRR ¼ Vf  h  ðdw þ ð2  sÞÞ  d
Surface Roughness is a measure of closely spaced micro irregu-
larities present on the surface texture [2]. It can be expressed in µm
and is denoted by Ra. If this value comes lower, that means the sur-
face is smooth and if it comes higher, it means that the surface is
rough. The surface roughness values are measured using an appa-
ratus Talysurf. The mean values for the results obtained from the
device are tabulated as one of the output parameters by using
Taguchi’s approach.
The measuring head of this instrument consists of a sharply
pointed diamond stylus of about 0.002 mm tip radius and skid or
shoe which is drawn across the surface using a motorized driving
unit. In the said instrument, the stylus is made to trace the profile
of the surface irregularities, and the oscillatory movement of the
stylus is converted into changes in electric current by the arrange-
ment (see Fig. 2)

5. Optimization

Orthogonal arrays are highly fractional orthogonal designs.

These designs can be used to not only applicable to two-level fac-
torial experiments but also can investigate main effects when fac-
tors have more than two levels [6]. Designs are also available to
investigate main effects for certain mixed level experiments where
the factors included do not have the same number of levels and
Considers various factors involved in any experiment and it esti-
mates the effect of those factors independently over the others.
There are many such standard orthogonal arrays from which
required one can be selected based on various conditions (see
Fig. 1. Sprint cut Wire EDM. Table 2).

Please cite this article as: M. Subrahmanyam and T. Nancharaiah, Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625 using Taguchi’s
approach, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449
 M. Subrahmanyam, T. Nancharaiah / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Table 2 6. Results and discussion

Design matrix.

S.NO FACTOR A FACTOR B FACTOR C The effects or influence of machining parameter, i.e., Discharge
Ton (µs) Toff (µs) SV (volts) current, Pulse on time and voltage on material removal rate (MRR),
surface roughness (SR) of Inconel 625 machined workpiece with
1 125 30 15
2 125 35 20 Brass Wire tool using Taguchi method (see Table 3).
3 125 40 25
4 130 30 20
5 130 35 25 6.1. Influence of process parameters on MRR by Taguchi method
6 130 40 15
7 135 30 25
8 135 35 15
See Tables 4 and 5 and Fig. 3.
9 135 40 20

6.2. Influence of parameters on surface roughness by Taguchi method

Table 3
Response table.
See Tables 6 and 7 and Fig. 4.

S.NO FACTOR A FACTOR B FACTOR MRR Ra

Ton (µs) Toff (µs) C SV (volts) (g/min) (µm) 6.3. Anova
1 125 30 15 0.06541 3.844
2 125 35 20 0.06593 4.122 The results obtained from the experiments were analyzed using
3 125 40 25 0.06567 4.070 Analysis of Variance to find the significance of each input factor on
4 130 30 20 0.06567 3.898 the measures of process performances, Material Removal Rate, and
5 130 35 25 0.06580 4.000
surface roughness. ANOVA is formulated for identifying significant
6 130 40 15 0.06593 3.850
7 135 30 25 0.06567 4.128 factors. The influences of various parameters on MRR and surface
8 135 35 15 0.06593 4.394 roughness are presented. Percentage contribution of each parame-
9 135 40 20 0.06580 4.622 ter is calculated, and the maximum contribution is observed (see
Table 8).

Table 4 Table 6
Response table for means. Response table for means.

Level Ton Toff SV Level Ton Toff SV

1 0.06567 0.06558 0.06576 1 23.65 23.66 23.64
2 0.06580 0.06589 0.06580 2 23.64 23.62 23.64
3 0.06580 0.06580 0.06571 3 23.64 23.64 23.65
Delta 0.00013 0.00030 0.00009 Delta 0.02 0.041 0.01
Rank 2 1 3 Rank 2 1 3

Table 5 Table 7
Response table for S/N ratios. Response table for S/N ratios.

Level Ton Toff SV Level Ton Toff SV

1 23.65 23.66 23.64 1 12.06 11.94 12.09
2 23.64 23.62 23.64 2 11.86 12.40 12.47
3 23.64 23.64 23.65 3 12.82 12.40 12.18
Delta 0.02 0.04 0.01 Delta 0.97 0.46 0.38
Rank 2 1 3 Rank 1 2 3

Fig. 3. (a) main effects plot for Means; (b) Main effects plot for S/N ratios.

Please cite this article as: M. Subrahmanyam and T. Nancharaiah, Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625 using Taguchi’s
approach, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449
4 M. Subrahmanyam, T. Nancharaiah / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. (a) Main effects plot for means; (b) Main effects plot for S/N ratios.

This is because the increase of pulse duration means discharge will

Table 8 last a longer time, which leads to higher discharge energy. When
Factor information.
pulse duration was kept constant, an increase in discharge current
Factor Type Levels Values would also increase discharge energy which affects SR by an
Ton Fixed 3 125, 130, 135 increase in diameter and depth of the discharging crater.
Toff Fixed 3 30, 35, 40
SV Fixed 3 15, 20, 25
7. Conclusion

6.4. General linear model MRR versus ton, toff, sv
F-ratio establishes whether the process parameter is significant
or not at a particular confidence level. The higher value of F-ratio
shows that any small variation of the process parameter can make
a significant influence on the performance characteristics. Increase
in pulse-off time increases MRR because increasing pulse-off time
number of electrons striking the work surface in a single discharge
increases thus eroding out more material from the work surface
per discharge. Table 9 shows the main effects plot for MRR versus
pulse-on time (TON), pulse-off time (TOFF), servo voltage (SV).
According to this, Pulse-off time is found to be the most significant
factor (Ref. Table 9) affecting MRR with the contribution of 61.90%.
6.5. General linear model Ra versus ton, toff, sv
In this Paper, Optimization of Process Parameters for Material
Removal Rate and Surface Roughness in Inconel 625 was carried
out. The machining parameters are Pulse on time, Pulse off time
and Servo Voltage. After successful application of Taguchi method
and ANOVA it is concluded the following:
 FOR MRR:-
For MRR, pulse on time, pulse off time are significant factor.
Pulse off time has the highest contribution of 61.90%
 FOR SURFACE ROUGHNESS:-
For surface roughness, pulse on time, pulse off time are the sig-
nificant factor.
Pulse on time has the highest contribution of 67.09%.

Table 10 shows the ANOVA results for SR where pulse-on time  Servo voltage was observed to be an insignificant factor as it has
found to be the significant factor with 67.09% contribution. Table 10 the least contribution in both the responses investigated.
shows increasing pulse-on time and peak current, SR increases.  The optimum setting for MRR is at A2B1C3

Table 9
ANOVA table.

Source DF Seq SS Contribution Adj SS Adj MS F- value P- value

Ton 2 0.29460 25.77% 0.54010 0.28655 0.75 0.571
Toff 2 0.09853 61.90% 0.03456 0.08718 3.25 0.235
SV 2 0.06592 8.76% 0.09561 0.01583 0.25 0.800
Error 2 0.08766 3.57% 0.05464 0.09874
Total 8 0.54671 100.0%

Table 10
ANOVA table.

Source DF Seq SS Contribution Adj SS Adj MS F-Value P-Value

Ton 2 0.36216 67.09% 0.36216 0.18108 15.27 0.061
Toff 2 0.09662 17.90% 0.09662 0.04831 4.07 0.197
SV 2 0.05735 10.62% 0.05735 0.02868 2.42 0.293
Error 2 0.02371 4.39% 0.02371 0.01186
Total 8 0.53984 100.0%

Please cite this article as: M. Subrahmanyam and T. Nancharaiah, Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625 using Taguchi’s
approach, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449
 M. Subrahmanyam, T. Nancharaiah / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

i.e., MRR will be maximum at 130(Pulse on time), 30(Pulse off [3] Anurag joshi,” Wire cut EDM process limitations for tool and die steel”,
international journal of technical research applications, volume-2,special issue|
time), 25 (servo voltage). (july-aug 2014).
[4] A.V.S. Ramprasad, Koona Ramji, G.l. Datta, An experimental study of wire EDM
 The optimum setting for surface roughness is at A1B2C3 on Ti-6A1-4VAlloy, Sci. Direct Procedia Mater. Sci. 5 (2014) 2567–2576.
[5] R. Kumar, V.G. KrishanKant, M. Bector, Performance study of wire cut electric
discharge machining process by using Taguchi’s parameter design approach,
i.e., Ra will be Maximum at 125(Pulse on time), 35 (pulse off Int. J. Eng. Invent. 2 (2) (2013).
time), 25 (servo voltage). [6] J. Singh, M.R. Singh, Review on effects of process parameters in wire cut EDM
and wire electrode development, Int. J. Innovat. Res. Insci. Technol. 2 (2) (2016).
It is evident that when working on wire electric discharge
machine with brass wire and INCONEL 625 as work piece, the
Further reading
above stated parameters gave the maximum material removal rate
and minimum surface roughness. [7] Cheriankunju Joy , Bibin K Tharian Proceedings of the International Conference
on ‘‘PARAMETRIC OPTIMIZATION OF WIRE. EDM ON AL 6063 USING TAGUCHI
References METHOD”on Breakthrough in Engineering & Advanced Technology– 2016 (INC-
BEAT’16)
[8] U.A. Dabade, S.S. Karidkar, Analysis of response variables in WEDM of inconel
[1] Amitesh Goswami, Jatinder Kumar, Optimization in wire-cut EDM of Nimonic- 718 using Taguchi technique, Procedia CIRP (2016).
80A using Taguchi’s approach and utility concept, Eng. Sci. Technol. Int. J. 17 [9] H.R. Tonday, A.M. Tigga, Analysis of effect of cutting parameters of Wire electric
(2014) 236–246. discharge machining on material removal rate and surface integrity, IOP
[2] Pujari Srinivasarao, Koonaramji Beelasatyanarayana, Experimental
Conference series materials science and engineering, 2016.
investigation and optimization of wire EDM parameters for surface
roughness, MRR and white layer in machining of aluminium alloy, Sci. Direct
Procedia Mater. Sci. 5 (2014) 2197–2206.

Please cite this article as: M. Subrahmanyam and T. Nancharaiah, Optimization of process parameters in wire-cut EDM of Inconel 625 using Taguchi’s
approach, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.05.449