Silicon

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00573-4

ORIGINAL PAPER

Multi Criteria Decision Making of Vibration Assisted EDM Process

Parameters on Machining Silicon Steel Using
Taguchi-DEAR Methodology
Nguyen Huu Phan 1 & T. Muthuramalingam 2

Received: 9 April 2020 / Accepted: 23 June 2020

# Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
In the present scenario, an endeavour is being utilized to associate the low frequency vibrations with electrical discharge
machining process for enhancing the process mechanism. The process parameters of such process should be optimized to
improve the quality measures. In the present study, Taguchi- Data Envelopment Analysis based Ranking(DEAR) based multi
criteria decision making has been proposed to obtain optimal combination process parameters on machining silicon steel in low
frequency vibration assisted EDM process. From the experimetal investigations, the optimal process parameters combination has
been found was found as I (6A),Ton (50 μs), Toff (25 μs) and F (256 Hz) among the chosen parameters in the machining process.
The vibration frequency is more dominant factor in ultrasonic vibration assisted EDM process owing to importance in flushing
mechanism. The better surface topography has been obtained with higher micro hardness and lower micro cracks over the
machined silicon steel under optimal process parameters combination.

Keywords Silicon steel . VEDM . Vibration . Surface . DEAR

1 Introduction workpiece in EDM process could able to enhance the produc-

The improvement of machining efficiency in electrical dis-
charge machining (EDM) by vibration associated with the
workpiece or electrode is a very promising technical solution
[1]. The vibration associated with the electrode or the work-
piece can significantly increase the discharge frequency due to
the higher dielectric fluid flow pressure across the machining
zone [2]. This hybrid mechanism can significantly increase
the normal discharge pulses by reducing the short-circuit
pulses and arcing discharges at the discharge gap [3]. It con-
tributes to improve the productivity and better surface quality
in EDM process [4]. The vibration associated with the
* Nguyen Huu Phan
phanktcn@gmail.com
T. Muthuramalingam
muthu1060@gmail.com
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Hanoi University of Industry,
Hanoi, Vietnam
2
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, SRM Institute of Science
and Technology, Kattankulathur 603203, India
tivity than the viration associated with electrodes [5]. The
utilization of vibration associated workpiece in EDM process
possesses greater practical applicability [6]. However the ex-
istence of very few works of such mechanism has led to the
application of the optimization techniques to improve the ef-
ficacy of the process. It is also very essential to implement the
optimization to improve the productivity under less produc-
tion cost [7]. Since the vibration assisted EDM (VEDM) pro-
cess is associated with complex mechanism and enormous
technological parameters involved with it, the computation
of parameters influence on quality indicators is tedious.
Multi criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques have
to be performed since the process is involved with multiple
quality measures such as material removal rate (MRR),
tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughenss (Ra) [8]. The
dependence between input and output process parameters
determines the exact choice of input parameters in any
process [9]. The response surface methodology (RSM)
has been used to optimize the parameters in any
manufacturing process to analyze the influence of the pro-
cess parameters [10]. The effectiveness of artificial neural
network (ANN) method for solving optimal problem is
better than RSM in EDM process [11].

Table 1 Chemical composition of silicon steel
Elements C Si Cu P S
Composition 0.035 0.44 0.38 0.013 0.022
%
The combination of RSM and Fuzzy – Technique of Order
Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (Topsis) based
multi creteria decision making (MCDM) approach in Micro-
EDM process could provide better technical solution com-
pared with other technologies [12]. The quality indicators in
green EDM process including process time, wear rate, process
energy, concentration of aerosol and dielectric consumption
were effectively alanzed using Taguchi - Topsis [13]. The
same approach could greatly reduce the production cost with
better machining accuracy in micro EDM process [14]. The
machining efficiency at optimum condition with Topsis was
improved by 14.4% and the pulse on time was found as stron-
gest influence on optimal result [15]. Taguchi –Grey relational
analysis (GRA) was applied in EDM process to enhance the
quality measures. It has been found that the proposed ap-
proach could effectively enhance the process mechanism
[16, 17]. However the accuracy of the computation could be
influenced by the selection of the grey scale co-efficient [18,
19]. Multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis
(MOORA) - Principal component analysis (PCA) technique
Fig. 1 Experimental arrangement
used in the present study
Silicon
Mo Mn Cr Ni Al Iron
0.022 0.55 0.025 0.033 0.33 Remaining
has been proposed to solve multi-objective problems in EDM
for Titanium grade 6 [20]. The machining efficiency in EDM
with low frequency vibration could be greatly improved by
Taguchi - MOORA [21]. This calculation techniques are sim-
ple and few only in such process. However the accuracy is not
effective one compared with existing techniques. The combi-
nation of RSM and GRA also provides acceptable optimal
efficiency. Nevertheless it is necessary to adopt with compu-
tational techniques such as genetic algorithm(GA), ant
colony optimization (ACO) and Preferential Selection
Index (PSI) [22]. Hence, a new computational methods
for MCDM approach for EDM process have to be devel-
oped. Taguchi - Data Envelopment Analysis based
Ranking(DEAR) technique has shown great efficiency in
manufacturing technology fields with simple methodolo-
gy [23]. This method can also result in MCDM techniques
in machining process which will be better than some of
the optimization techniques that have been used before
[24, 25]. The number of optimization studies in vibration
assisted EDM is still very small [26].
Silicon

While analyzing the literatures, it has been found that only
few research attempts have been made to apply multi response
optimization techniques in vibration assisted EDM process. It
has observed that only little attention has been given to find
the optimal process parameter combination while machining
silicon steel using vibration assisted EDM process. Hence the
present investigation has been carried out. In the present
study, Taguchi- DEAR based MCDM approach was per-
formed on machining silicon steel in vibration assisted EDM
process.
balance (Model: Vibra AJ-203 SHINKO, Japan) with an ac-
curacy of ±0.001 g and standard deviation of 10 mg. The
surface roughness (Ra) was measured using contact probe
(SJ-210) type profilometer (MITUTOYO, JAPAN) with the
cutoff length of 0.8 mm. Two measurements were acquired
for each test sample and the average value of each measure-
ment was considered. The surface morphology was acquired
using scanning electron microscope (Jeol-6490 JED-2300,
JEOL JAPAN) and optical microscope(OPM).
2.3 Design of Experiments

2 Materials and Methods Taguchi method is a simple experimental matrix design tool
which can be applied in many technical fields with high ef-
2.1 Selection of Workpiece and Tool Electrode fective. This method can reduce the costs of empirical re-
search without affecting the performances of the process using
In the present study, silicon steel has been selected as the optimal value of orthogonal array. Since the present study
workpiece due to its importance in electrical appliances and deals with three levels of four input process parameters such
dies in manufacturing industries. The chemical composition as peak current, pulse on time, pulse off time and vibration
of silicon steel is shown in Table 1 [27]. The dimension of the frequency, L9 orthogonal array (OA) design has been selected
workpiece specimens was 15x20x10mm. The machining in- as per Taguchi design of experiments. Table 3 shows the
vestigations were performed in CHEMER EDM machine selection of experimental design for L9 orthogonal table.
(CM 323C, Taiwan) with the vibration unit (Model: Exciter The average white layer thickness was computed with the
4824, Brüel & Kjær, Denmark) and data logger as shown in methods as reported by Muthuramalingam [28]. The micro
Fig. 1. The vibration unit can able to produce oscillations with hardness (HV) was computed using vickers micro hardness
the frequency range of 2–5000 Hz including sine, pulse and tester with 0.5 Kg of allpied load.
random signals. The amplitude of the vibrations for a chosen
frequency value was chosen as 0.75 μm. Copper (Cu) tool 2.4 Data Envelopment Analysis Based Ranking (DEAR)
electrode with diameter of 20 mm was used in EDM process. Methodology
The choice of dielectric fluid depends on the specific applica-
tion and the actual production cost. D323 oil was utilized as In the present experimental investigation, material removal
the dielectric fluid in EDM process. The selection of the pro- rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), surface roughness (Ra),
cess parameters along with variables is shown Table 2. The micro hardness (HV) and white layer thickness (WLT) have
process variables have been chosen under higher, medium and been selected as quality measures. Since the present investi-
lower ranges of process parameters. gation has been performed with more than one quality mea-
sure, it is important to implement MCDM optimization in the
2.2 Measurement of Quality Measures process. In the approach, a set of original responses are
mapped into a ratio to find the optimal levels. This value can
The material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), sur-
face roughness (Ra), White layer thickness (WLT) and micro
Table 3 Taguchi L9 based OA design
hardness (HV) were considered as the quality measures in the
present investigation. The weight of the workpiece and elec- Trial A B C D I (A) Ton (μs) Toff (μs) F (Hz)
trode were precisely determined using a digital weighing
1. 1 1 1 1 3 12 5.5 128
2. 1 2 2 2 3 25 12.5 256
Table 2 Selection of process parameters 3. 1 3 3 3 3 50 25 512
4. 2 1 2 3 6 12 12.5 512
Process parameters Symbol Unit Factor Variables
5. 2 2 3 1 6 25 25 128
Peak current I A A 3,6,8 6. 2 3 1 2 6 50 5.5 256
Pulse on time Ton μs B 12,25,50 7. 3 1 3 2 8 12 25 256
Pulse off time Toff μs C 5.5, 12.5, 25 8. 3 2 2 3 8 25 5.5 512
Vibration frequency F Hz D 128, 256, 512 9. 3 3 1 1 8 50 12.5 128
 Silicon

Table 4 Experimental results in VEDM process

Trial Input parameters Quality measures

I (A) Ton (μs) Toff (μs) F (Hz) MRR (mm3/min) TWR (mm3/min) Ra (μm) HV (HV) WLT (μm)

1. 3 12 5.5 128 2.333 1.544 2.22 704.98 3.629

2. 3 25 12.5 256 2.827 0.122 2.97 727.04 4.023
3. 3 50 25 512 3.564 0.124 2.19 802.6 4.284
4. 6 12 12.5 512 4.460 0.024 2.28 715.64 7.911
5. 6 25 25 128 3.154 2.048 3.72 786.54 7.43
6. 6 50 5.5 256 5.470 0.757 3.31 957.98 8.574
7. 8 12 25 256 5.855 1.011 4.17 888.48 15.334
8. 8 25 5.5 512 9.564 1.944 5.24 678.66 18.267
9. 8 50 12.5 128 5.205 0.079 5.07 744.68 14.308

be treated as multi response performance index (MRPI) value A ¼ MRR*WMRR ð2Þ

to find the optimal combination of the process parameters.
The following steps are involved in Date Envelopment B ¼ TWR*WTWR ð3Þ
Analysis based Ranking Methodology (DEAR): C ¼ Ra *WRa ð4Þ
D ¼ HV*WHV ð5Þ
1. Determine the weights(w) for each response for all exper-
iments. Weight of response is the ratio between response E ¼ WLT*WWLT ð6Þ
at any trial to the summation of all responses.
The weights for all the response variables have been com-
2. Transform the data of response into weighted data by
puted as the following equations
multiflying the observed data with its own weight.
3. Divide the data as larger the better with smaller the better. MRR
WMRR ¼ ð7Þ
4. Treat this value as multi response performance index ∑MRR
(MRPI).
1
MRPI is the ratio between the summation of larger the WTWR ¼ TWR ð8Þ
1
better data to the summation of smaller the better data. In the ∑
TWR
present study, The following relation has been used to find the
1
MRPI for the present study.
Ra
W Ra ¼ ð9Þ
AþD 1
MRPI ¼ ð1Þ ∑
BþCþE Ra

Table 5 Computation of weights

and MRPI values Trial No. Weights MRPI

MRR TWR Ra HV WLT

1. 0.054982 0.008688 0.156342 0.100617 0.207963 63.72079

2. 0.066624 0.109954 0.116862 0.103765 0.187596 67.8176
3. 0.083993 0.108181 0.158484 0.114549 0.176167 82.70904
4. 0.105109 0.558934 0.152228 0.102138 0.095399 65.96424
5. 0.074331 0.00655 0.093301 0.112257 0.101575 79.38458
6. 0.128912 0.017721 0.104858 0.136725 0.088022 118.0831
7. 0.137985 0.013268 0.083232 0.126806 0.049217 101.7516
8. 0.225396 0.0069 0.066236 0.09686 0.041315 60.87808
9. 0.122667 0.169803 0.068457 0.106283 0.052747 71.54375
Silicon

Table 6 Calculation of optimal process parameters

Factors Levels Max - Min

1 2 3

I 71.41581 87.81062 78.05782 16.39481

Ton 77.14555 69.36008 90.77862 21.41853
Toff 80.89397 68.44186 87.94841 19.50655
F 71.5497 95.88409 69.85045 26.03364

HV
WHV ¼ ð10Þ
∑HV
1
WWLT ¼ WLT ð11Þ
1
∑
WLT Fig. 2 Crater formation of machined silicon steel

3.2 Confirmation Experiment

3 Results and Discussion The purpose of confirmation experiment is to validate the op-
timal process factors derived from the DEAR based MCDM
3.1 Computation of Optimal Process Parameters technology. In the present study, a confirmation experiment
Combination was conducted with optimal levels of significant factors. At
the optimal setting, the response values from the confirmation
The present experimental investigation has been performed experiments were obtained and the deviation of corresponding
with nine machining experiments under taguchi design of ex- MRPI has been found as 1.8% from the maximum mean value.
periments in vibration assisted EDM (VEDM) process param- It was the acceptable tolerance value of 5%.
eters on machinability of specimens in V-EDM process as
shown in Table 4. The values of MRPI for each trial have
been computed based DEAR methodology as described in 3.3 Identification of Significant Factor
section 2 and tabulated as shown in Table 5. Table 6 shows
the consolidated MRPI of all the input factors with all the The larger Max – Min value indicates that higher influence on
levels. The values have been computed by the adding the all determining quality measures in any process [28]. From the
MRPI values for corresponding level of each process Table 5, it was found that vibration frequency was more
parameters.
The maximum level MRPI value of each process parame-
ters indicates the optimal level of input parameters on deter-
mining the quality measutres in VEDM process. From the
Table 5, it was found that I (Level 2),Ton (Level 3), Toff
(Level 3) and F (Level 2) could provide better quality mea-
sures, since the combination has been inferred as optimal com-
bination of process parameters in the present study as shown
Table 7.

Table 7 Optimized
process parameters Factors Level Parameter values

I 2 6A
Ton 3 50 μs
Toff 3 25 μs
F 2 256 Hz
Fig. 3 Micro cracks formation over machined silicon steel

Fig. 4 White layer thickness on machined silicon steel
dominant factor among all the input process parameters in
ultrasonic vibration assisted EDM process. Since the vibra-
tional frequency produces oscillations across the machining
zone in VEDM process, the flushing process can be further
enhanced. Due it is better deionization, the higher material
removal rate could be obtained with better surface quality in
VEDM process.
3.4 Surface Topography Analysis of Machined Silicon
Steel at Optimal Process Parameters
The machined surface of silicon steel under optimal process
parameters combination was investigated using SEM and
OPM based image analysis. The surface roughness of the
machined surface is determined crater formation during the
machining process. Many tiny craters were found over the
machined surface with uniform distribution due to the con-
trolled spark energy in VEDM process as shown in Fig. 2.
Hence the considerable lower surface roughness has been re-
ported under optimal process parameters combination. The
low frequency oscillations could enhance the flushing process
by improving the deionization of plasma column for each and
every pulse cycle during the machining process. This has re-
sulted in the reduction of residual stress. Hence only micro
cracks have been formed over the machined surface in VEDM
process as observed in Fig. 3. Since the surface hardness is the
top layer property, the white layer thickness can influence the
micro hardness of the machined surface. The tiny white layer
thickness was observed with uniform distribution under opti-
mal process parameters combination. Hence uniform and
higher surface hardness could be observed during the machin-
ing process in in VEDM process as shown in Fig. 4.
4 Conclusion
In the present study Taguchi- DEAR based MCDM optimiza-
tion methodology has been utilized to obtain optimal
Silicon
combination process parameters on machining silicon steel
in low frequency vibration assisted EDM process. From the
experimetal investigations, the following conclusions have
been made.
& The optimal process parameters combination in VEDM
process was found as I (6A),Ton (50 μs), Toff (25 μs)
and F (256 Hz) among the chosen parameters.
& The vibration frequency is more dominant factor in ultra-
sonic vibration assisted EDM process owing to impor-
tance in flushing mechanism.
& The higher micro hardness with lower micro cracks over
the machined silicon steel can be obtained under optimal
process parameters combination.
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