Manufacturing Processes

(ME 361) Lecture-17

Instructor: Shantanu Bhattacharya
Resistance capacitor Relaxation
circuit (Analysis of RC circuits)
Resistance capacitor Relaxation circuit
(Analysis of RC circuits)
 Numerical Problem
During an electric discharge drilling of a 10mm square hole in a low carbon steel plate of
5mm thickness, brass tool and kerosene are used. The resistance and capacitance in the
relaxation circuit are 50Ω and 10μF, respectively. The supply voltage is 200 V and the
gap is maintained at such a value that the discharge takes place at 150 Volts. Estimate
the drilling time.
Resistance capacitor Relaxation circuit
(Analysis of RC circuits)
Numerical Problem
General Characteristics of MRR
 Rotary Impulse Generator
• The relaxation circuit for spark generation, though simple, has certain disadvantages. Of
these, an important disadvantage is that the mrr is not high.
•For increasing the MRR another method called impulse generator is employed for
formulation of the spark.
•The figure below shows such a circuit.

• The capacitor is charged through the diode during the first half cycle.
•During the following half cycle, the sum of the voltages generated by the generator and
the charged capacitor is applied to the work tool gap.
•The operating frequency is the frequency of the sine wave generation which depends
on the motor speed.
•Though the MRR is higher the system does not give good surface finish.
 Controlled Pulse Circuit
• In both the resistance / capacitance relaxation circuit method and the rotary impulse
generator method there is no inbuilt provision for an automatic prevention of the
current flow when a short circuit is developed.

•To achieve such an automatic control, a vacuum tube is used as the switching device.

•The device is shown in the figure below.

•During sparking the current which flows

through the gap comes from the discharging of
the capacitor.
•When the current flows through the gap the
valve tube (VT) is biased to cut off and behaves
like an infinite resistance.
•The bias control is done through an electronic
control.

• As soon as the current in the gap ceases, the conductivity of the tube increases, allowing
the flow of current to charge the capacitor for the next cycle.
 Surface Finish and Machining Accuracy
Therefore,

hc= 0.78 K C0.33Vd0.66

•The dependence of surface finish on pulse energy E and the comparison of surface finish
with that obtained by the conventional processes are well studied.

•A lot of studies have been made in determining a suitable relationship between the rate
of material removal and the quality of surface finish. However, a very dependable
relationship is yet to emerge.

• The only such relationship exist for machining steels as approximated below.

Hrms = 1.11 Q0.384 where Hrms is in microns and Q is in mm3/min.

• The forced circulation of dielectric has been found to generally improve the surface
finish.
Dependence of surface finish on Pulse
Energy
 Numerical Problem
A steel workpeice is being machined with R= 50, C = 10 μF, V0 = 200Volts, and Vd = 150
Volts. Estimate the surface roughness.
 Numerical Problem

The inaccuracies introduced during the EDM process are mainly:

•Taper of the hole machined.
•Overcut due to the sparks at the side faces of the electrodes.
•Errors due to the gradual change in the electrode (tool) shape and size.
Taper:
As the tool electrode advances, the shape of the
hole machined is as shown. A taper results because
the upper portion of the hole walls is subjected to
more number of sparks than the bottom portion.
The taper is found to depend on tool diameter,
other conditions remaining same. It can be
controlled by using appropriate electrical
parameters.
 Overcut
•An overcut is a dimension by which the hole in the work-piece exceeds the electrode
size. The magnitude of the overcut is dependent on the spark length, and, to some extent
on the crater dimensions. The wear particles are present in the gap, the effective length
of the spark (hence the magnitude of the overcut) is increased by dw (diameter of the
wear particle). When a 10mm diameter brass tool is used for machining steel the
dependence of the overcut and taper on the energy of the individual sparks in indicated
in the figure (b)below. Figure (a) shows the basic overcut mechanism.

(a)
(b)
 Tool electrode and dielectric fluid
•The electrodes play an extremely important role in the EDM operation, and
therefore certain aspects of the tool electrode should be kept in mind to achieve
better machining results.

Tool electrode wear:

•During EDM the tool (i.e. the cathode) also gets eroded due to the sparking action.
•The materials having good electrode wear characteristics are the same as those that
are generally difficult to machine.
•One of the principle materials used for the tool is Graphite which goes directly into
the vapor phase without melting.
•The wear ratio RQ defined as the ratio between the material removed from the work
to the material removed from the tool is related to the ratio of melting points of
work and tool (Rθ ) in the following manner:

RQ = 2.25 Rθ -2.3

Electrode material:
The selection of the electrode material depends on the following:
(a) MRR, (b) Wear Ratio (c) Ease of shaping the electrode (d)Cost.
 Electrode Material
The most commonly used electrode materials are brass, copper, graphite, Al alloys, copper
tungsten alloys, silver tungsten alloys etc. The methods used for making the electrodes are
:
(a) Conventional machining (used for copper, brass, copper tungsten alloys, Silver
tungsten alloys and aluminum alloys).
(b) Metal spraying
(c) Press forming
Flow holes are normally provided for the circulation of the dielectric, and these holes
should be as large as possible for rough cuts to allow large flow rates at a low pressure.
Dielectric Fluids
The basic requirements of an ideal dielectric fluid are:
(1)Low viscosity
(2)Absence of toxic vapors
(3)Chemical Neutrality
(4)Absence of inflaming tendency
(5)Low cost
•The ordinary water possesses almost all these properties, but since it causes rusting in the
work and the machine, it is not used.
•Also the electrodes are always under some potential difference, and due to the good
conductivity of water, the ECM process starts distorting the workpeice. Also, power is wasted.
In some cases deionized water can be used. Normally hydrocarbons are preffered materials.
Some examples are Kerosene, paraffin oil, silicon oils etc.
 Effects of EDM on Metal Surfaces
• The high temperatures generated by the sparks causes the melting and vaporization of the
metal and obviously, this high temperature affects the properties of the shallow layers of the
surface machined.
•The outermost layer is rapidly chilled, and it is therefore very hard. The layer below this is in a
somewhat tempered condition.
•The figure shows the variation of hardness with depth for both rough and finish EDM
operations on steel.
•It is clear that in finish machining such a hardening is not prominent. However, the outer layer
is tempered and the hardness is low.
•The hardening of the surface layer during the EDM operation imparts a better wear resistance
characteristic. However, the fatigue strength reduces due to the microcracks that develop in the
surface layer during chilling.
Electron Beam Machining
 Electron Beam Machining
•Electron beam machining is a thermal process where a stream of
electrons of high speed impinges on the work surface whereby, the
kinetic energy transferred to the work material , produces intense
heating.
•Depending on the intensity of the heat thus generated, the
material can melt or vaporize.
•The process of heating by an electron beam can, depending on the
intensity, be used for annealing, welding, or metal removal.
•Very high velocities can be obtained by using enough voltage, for
example, an accelerating voltage of 150,000V can produce an
electron velocity of 228,478 km/ sec.
•Since an electron beam can be focussed to a point with 10-200 μm
diameter, the power density can go up to 6500 billion W/mm2 .
•Such a power density can vaporize any substance immediately.
•Thus, EBM is nothing but a precisely controlled vaporization
process.
 Electron Beam Machining
•EBM is a suitable process for drilling fine holes and cutting narrow slots.
•Holes with 25-125 μm diameter can be drilled almost instantaneously in sheets with
thicknesses upto 1.25mm diameter.
•The narrowest slot which can be cut by ebeam has a width of 25 microns.
•Moreover an electron beam can be manuovered by the magnetic deflection coils,
making the machining of complex contours easy.
•However, to avoid a collision of the accelerating electrons with the air molecules, the
process is better conducted in vacuum (10-5 mm Hg).
•This makes the process unsuitable for very large workpeices.
•To indicate the wide range of applications of the electron beam, a plot of power density
versus the hot spot diameter is given.

•It is obvious that the range of

the electron beam is the
largest.
•That is why the electron beam
is used not only for machining
but also for other thermal
processes.
 Schematic view of the e-beam
machine
•The figure below shows the basic schematic view of the electron beam machine.
•The electrons are emitted from the cathode (a hot tungsten filament), the beam is
shaped by the grid cup, and the electrons are accelerated due to a large potential
difference between the cathode and the anode.
•The beam is focussed with the help of the electromagnetic lenses.
•The deflecting coils are used to control the beam movement in any required manner.
•In case of drilling holes the hole diameter depends on the beam diameter and the energy
density.
•When the diameter of the
required hole is larger than the
beam diameter, the beam is
deflected in a circular path with
proper radius.
•Most holes drilled with e-beam
are characterized by a small crater
on the beam incident side of the
work.