Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of

Al5059/SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method S. Ajith Arul Daniel ⇑, S.
Vijay Ananth, A. Parthiban, S. Sivaganesan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai 117, India

article info the input factor along with the feed rate, voltage and varied within
High demand on materials to increase the overall performance of
Article history: automotive and aerospace components has forced the develop ment of
Received 18 June 2019 composite materials. Among the various composites, Aluminium Metal
Accepted 28 June 2019
Available online xxxx
Matrix Composites (AMMC) are widely used to fulfill the emerging
industrial needs. The investigation of mechani cal properties of AMMC
Keywords: produced by the stir casting technique for various compositions of boron
Electrochemical machining Process Silicon carbide carbide and silicon carbide rein forced with aluminium alloy 6061. The
Molybdenum disulphide tensile, flexural, hardness and impact tests were performed and it was
Material removal rate found that the hybrid composites had better properties than pure
Surface roughness
aluminium [1]. Machin ing of alloy steels especially 20MnCr5 is very
important for its wide variety of applications such as piston bolts,
spindles, this work, an investigation was made to study the
electrochemical machining characteristics of 20MnCr5 alloy steel. It was
noted in the study that the presence of K 2Cr2O7 in aqueous NaCl
1. Introduction electrolyte increases the material removal rate significantly. The
abstract process parameters are optimized through genetic algorithm-desirability
function. Opti mized operating conditions were found to be quite close
In this study, three different combinations of SiC were used by weight percentage and with experimental results [2]. Suresh et al. says that the responses also
its particle size. The Molybdenum di sulphide also used with fixed weight percentage. largely depend on the physical and electrical properties. So,
Aluminium composite were man ufactured by using stir casting method. Al5059 is
reinforced with silicon carbide particles of 10, 20 & 40 lm size with 5%, 10% & 15%
by weight and fixed amount of 2% Molybdenum disulphide has been used. Taguchi’s ⇑
Corresponding author.
L27 orthogonal array is chosen to design the experiments and 27 test were
E-mail address: ajith_danny@yahoo.com (S. Ajith Arul Daniel).
conducted to study the effect of various machining parameters like applied voltage,
feed rate, electrolyte concentration and percentage of reinforcement on the material
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750
removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR) are employed to find the optimal levels 2214-7853/ 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
and to analyze the effect of electrochemical machining parameters on MRR, SR.
the selected range to study the Material Removal Rate of ECM of
2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Aluminium-silicon carbide composite fabricated through stir cast ing
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International
Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and
process. In this work, NaCl (sodium chloride) electrolyte, It is obtained
Engineering Applications. that the added abrasive particles work along with anodic dissolution to
enhance the Metal Removal Rate(MRR) [3]. Among many AMMCs,
Aluminium metal matrix reinforced with Boron Car bide (B4C) is a novel
composite (Fig. 1).
This composite is widely used in automotive industries (brake pads
and brake rotor) Boron carbide shows exotic properties such as neutron
absorbing compared to other reinforcements such as Al 2O3 and SiC. In
order to improve tribological characteristics of Al- B4C, the graphite is
added as a solid lubricant [4]. Aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) are
difficult to machine conventionally. During the process no tool wear
occurs. The AMCs consist of an aluminum matrix, which is easily to
machine with PECM, and SiC-particles, which cannot be dissolved
during the electrochemi cal machining process applying neutral
electrolytes. This combina tion leads to a special behavior of dissolution
and anodization [5]. Milan Kumar Dasa et.al 2014 studied that, artificial
bee colony (ABC) algorithm is employed to find out the optimal
combinations of process parameters in ECM of EN 31 steel for
maximum material removal rate (MRR) and minimum surface
the percentage of reinforcement material is considered as one of roughness (Ra) It is seen that the results of confirmation tests show a
good agreement with
 Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and Engineering Applications.

Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750

2 S. Ajith Arul Daniel et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 1.
Electrical Chemical machining setup.

the predicted results. Also, variations of responses with process
parameters are studied using 3D surface plots [6]. The methodol ogy for
the optimization of the machining parameters on drilling of Al- Al 2O3 -
B4C Metal Matrix composites using EMM. The taguchi L27 orthogonal
array and analysis of variance are employed to study the influence of
machining parameters such as machining voltage, Electrolyte
concentration, Frequency on the over cut and MRR. Based on the
Taguchi analysis, optimum level of parameters is determined and the
same to validate through the confirmation test [7]. For effective
machining of AL6061/SiC (10%) composite, a electrochemical
discharge machining (ECDM) has been developed. The developed
ECDM has been utilized to machine holes on AL6061/SiC (10%)-MMC
and subsequently tests results which are utilized to analyse the
developed ECDM set up performance char acteristic. The practical
research analysis and test results on machining of holes onAL6061/SiC
(10%)-MMC by developed ECDM set up will provide a new guideline to
researchers and manufactur ing engineers [8]. The effect of these
parameters on the machining characteristics of electrochemical
machining of LM6 Al/B4C com posites. Non-linear regression models
have been formulated after conducting the experiments using the
concept of central composite design of experiments and the developed
models are tested with the help of twenty test cases. The responses
MRR, SR and ROC are optimized individually and simultaneously
based on response surface methodology (RSM). The average absolute
percentage error in prediction of all responses for the non-linear model
is found to be equal to 9.657 [9]. the mechanical and microstructural
beha viours of AA6061 reinforced with silicon carbide (SiC) and AA6061
reinforced with boron carbide (B4C), obtained from the enhanced stir-
casting process, The testing shows that the tensile and microhardness
properties of the AA6061 were improved in both the reinforced
aluminium-matrix composites. The influence of the electrochemical
machining process parameters like current, voltage, electrolyte
concentration, feed rate, gap and flow rate were considered as the input
parameters. The study shows that the dominant output parameter MRR
was directly proportional to the input parameters current, voltage and
feed rate [10]. The reac tion of work material is investigated as an input
parameter along with voltage and interelectrode gap on improvement in
surface roughness using orthogonal Array. Work-piece material is
discovered as most significant factor influencing improvement in
Surface Roughness followed by Inter-electrode gap and Voltage. Effect
of ECM is found to be most prominent on Brass work-piece [11].
Electrochemical machining (ECM) of the aluminium–silicon alloy/boron
carbide (Al-Si /B4C) composites, fabricated by stir cast ing process with
different weight % of B4 C particles. The influence of four machining
parameters including applied voltage, electrode feed rate, electrolyte
concentration and percentage of reinforce ment on the responses
surface roughness (SR) and radial over cut (ROC) were investigated
[12].The historical developments in the field of Electrochemical
Machining(ECM) process and its recent developments associated with
the effect of process parameters, parametric optimization methods,
MINITAB software respectively on material removal rate, surface
roughness, microstructure, oper ating, tooling, maintenance cost [13].
Experimentation is per formed based on Taguchi L9 orthogonal array
with three process parameter like voltage, feed rate and electrolyte
concentrating with three levels. The optimum parameter obtain is
voltage 15 V, feed rate 0.9 mm/min, electrolyte concentration 20%. The
confir mation test has been carried out to verify the improvement of per
formance characteristic of electrochemical machining of aluminium alloy
7075[14]. Extravagant application of AMMC (Alu minium Metal Matrix
Composites) in various fields of engineering has a unique property.
Though there are vast combinations of metal composites, aluminium is
a significant and readily combin able metal. In this research paper
reinforcement of aluminium with Fly ash and magnesium oxide is
proposed and fabricated AMMC by stir casting method and tested in
EMM (Electrochemical Microma chining) using Taguchi’s quality
techniques [15].
2. Experimental setup
2.1. Material selection
5059 is an aluminium alloy is among the best corrosive alu minium
alloy characterized by high corrosion resistance because its primarily
alloyed with magnesium and it is not strengthen by heat treatment
instead becoming stronger when its strain harden ing or cold working.
Table 1 shows the chemical composition of Al

Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
 SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750

S. Ajith Arul Daniel et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Table 1
Chemical composition of Aluminium 5059.

Elements Mg Cr Cu Fe Mn Si Ti Zn Zr Al % 5–6 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.45 0.2 0.4 0.05 Bal

5059. SiC is added into the composite in various particle level such as Parameters of composite specimen.
(10, 20 and 40 mm) molybdenum di sulphide is a soft material which is added to the base metal, 2% of mg added to the mixture to increase the
a act as a solid lubricant in the composite chosen as the secondary wettability between base matrix and reinforcement, After com pletion of
reinforcement (Table 2). stirring the liquid phase is poured into the die and allowed to solidify.
Then the samples are undergone for ECM pro cess. Electrochemical
machining (ECM) is a metal-removal process based on the principle of
2.2. Stir casting reverse electroplating. In this process, particles travel from the anodic
material (work piece) toward the cathodic material (machining tool). A
Stir casting is chosen as the fabrication technique because of its current of electrolyte fluid carries away the deplated material before it
distribution capacity. Many researchers suggested liquid phase method has a chance to reach the machining tool. The cavity produced is the
is the most suitable and cost effective method of compos ite female mating image of the tool shape. The figure shows the setup for
preparation. SiC and MoS2 were preheated in a crucible up to 650 C, Electrical Chemical machining process.
The base metal (aluminium 5059) ingots are placed in the crucible and
heated up to 750 C inside the furnace and then the preheated SiC
particles at various particle size (10, 20 and 40 mm) at various mass 3. Analysis of process parameter
fraction and fixed mass fraction of MoS2 were
The statistical software, Minitab 16 was used and the results
obtained for all the experimental runs were statistically analyzed using
analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 95% confidence level and the effects
Table 2
of the selected variable were evaluated.
Sample number Mass fraction of SiC (%) The mean S/N ratio graph for shown in Fig. 2. From this optimum parametric
Particle size of SiC (microns)
Hardness material removal rate is graph, it is found that the
optimum parametric combination is A1, B1, C1, D1, E1 (smaller-is-better)
1 10 5 83 2 10 10 84.52 3 10 15 86.66 4 20 5 78.33 5 20 10 82.33 6 20 15 83.6 7 40 5
75.16 8 40 10 76 9 40 15 78.3
i.e., SiC 5%,SiC size 10 mm, Voltage 10 ,Inner Electrode Gap 0.3 mm,
combination is A3, B3, C3, D3, E3 (larger-is-better) i.e., SiC 15%, SiC
Electrolyte concentration 25 g/litre.
Size 40 mm, Voltage 20 , Inner Electrode Gap 0.3 mm and Elec trolyte
Material Removal rate increases with increasing SiC Size and SiC %,
Concentration 35 g/litre. The mean S/N ratio graph for sur face
obviously Material Removal Rate slightly decreases if
roughness is shown in Fig. 3. From this graph, it is found that the

Fig. 2. Mean S/N ratio graph for surface roughness.

Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750
4 S. Ajith Arul Daniel et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3. Mean S/N ratio graph for Material Removal Rate.

Table 3
Process Parameters and their levels.

Parameter SiC % SiC Size mm Voltage V InterElectrode Gap (mm) Electrolyte Concentration (g/litre)

Symbol AB C D E Level 1 5 10 10 0.1 25 Level 2 10 20 15 0.2 30 Level 3 15 40 20 0.3 35

Table 4
Experimental results of MRR and Ra, calculated S/N ratio by L27 orthogonal array.

Exp. No. SiC% SiC size (mm) Voltage V IEGmm EC g/litre Ra MRR mg/min

1 5 10 10 0.1 25 3.712 0.026 2 5 10 10 0.1 30 3.143 0.033 3 5 10 10 0.1 35 3.914 0.022 4 5 20 15 0.2 25 3.214 0.035 5 5 20 15 0.2 30 3.845 0.045 6 5 20 15 0.2 35 3.345 0.042 7 5
40 20 0.3 25 3.754 0.068 8 5 40 20 0.3 30 3.452 0.054 9 5 40 20 0.3 35 3.643 0.073 10 10 10 15 0.3 25 3.312 0.032 11 10 10 15 0.3 30 3.111 0.033 12 10 10 15 0.3 35 3.215 0.048
13 10 20 20 0.1 25 3.014 0.037 14 10 20 20 0.1 30 3.158 0.031 15 10 20 20 0.1 35 2.586 0.058 16 10 40 10 0.2 25 3.555 0.061 17 10 40 10 0.2 30 4.124 0.062 18 10 40 10 0.2 35
3.567 0.081 19 15 10 20 0.2 25 4.242 0.028 20 15 10 20 0.2 30 2.891 0.060 21 15 10 20 0.2 35 3.678 0.061 22 15 20 10 0.3 25 2.873 0.052 23 15 20 10 0.3 30 3.637 0.068 24 15
20 10 0.3 35 1.819 0.073 25 15 40 15 0.1 25 2.814 0.068 26 15 40 15 0.1 30 2.934 0.088 27 15 40 15 0.1 35 2.611 0.094

Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750

S. Ajith Arul Daniel et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Table 5
Result of ANOVA for Material Removal Rate.

Source DF Seq SS/10 3 Adj SS/10 3 Adj MS/10 3 F P

SiC% 2 0.002291 0.00229 0.00114 14.4 0.00 SiC Size 2 0.005426 0.00542 0.00271 34.1 0.000 Voltage 2 0.000012 0.00001 0.00006 0.08 0.925 Inner electrode gap (IEG) 2 0.000108
0.00010 0.00005 0.68 0.51 Electrolyte concentration (EC) 2 0.001170 0.00117 0.00058 7.37 0.00 Error 16 0.001271 0.00127 0.00007 – – Total 26 0.010279

Table 6
Result of ANOVA for Surface Roughness Ra.

Source Degrees of Freedom Seq.Sum of Squares Adjusted Sum of squares Adjusted mean squares F P

SiC% 2 1.1376 1.1376 0.5688 2.73 0.096 SiC Size 2 0.8612 0.8612 0.4306 2.07 0.159 Voltage 2 0.2907 0.2907 0.1454 0.70 0.512 Inner electrode gap (IEG) 2 1.2993 1.2993 0.6497 3.12
0.072 Electrolyte Concentration (EC) 2 0.3027 0.3027 0.1514 0.73 0.499 Error 16 3.3348 3.3348 0.2084 – –
Total 26 7.2264

changing the SiC % and SiC Size. So, SiC Size plays the major factor
to determining the Material Removal Rate and is followed by SiC %
shows in Fig. 2. Increasing SiC % and Inner Electrode Gap (IEG) tends
to minimize the Surface Roughness while other parameters are
independent compare to SiC % and Inner Electrode Gap shows in Fig.
3. So, SiC % plays the major factor to determining the Surface
roughness and is followed by Inner Electrode Gap (IEG). The S/N ratio
response table for Material Removal Rate is shown in below Table 3.
SiC Size is the most significant factor which is influencing Material
removal Rate and is followed by SiC %, having delta values of SiC Size
and SiC % is 5.94 and 3.66. (Table 4.)
The S/N ratio response table for surface roughness is shown in
below Table 5. Pulse Off is the most significant factor which is
influencing the Surface roughness and is followed by Inner Elec trode
Gap (IEG), having delta value of SiC% and Inner Electrode Gap (IEG)
is 1.518 and 1.344. (Table 6)
4. Anova
ANOVA was performed in order to estimate the predictive accu racy
of the model and to determine the relative significance of dif ferent
factors. The Table 5 shows the ANOVA result for Material Removal
Rate. Wire feed (89.54) and Volume Fraction (8.13) is the most
significant parameter affecting the Material Removal Rte. Wire feed and
Volume Fraction plays a major role in determin ing the Material
Removal Rate and is independent on Pulse On and Pulse Off time
shows in Table 5.
5. Regression equation
The regression model gives the relationship between predicted
value (A-SiC %, B-SiC size, c-Voltage, D-Inner Electrode Gap, E-
Electrolyte Concentration) and response value (material removal rate).
The regression equation for material removal rate is, MRR =
0.0468889 + 0.00215556 SiC% + 0.00113651 SiC Size 8.88889e-005
Voltage + 0.0244444 Inner electrode gap + 0.00161111 Electrolyte
Concentration
The regression equation for surface roughness (Ra) is, Ra =
4.39494–0.0502556 SiC % 7.38095e-005 SiC Size + 0.000822222
Voltage + 0.516667 Inner electrode gap 0.0234667 Electrolyte
Concentration.
6. Conclusion
SiC Size and SiC % is the most affecting parameter which is
Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750
6 S. Ajith Arul Daniel et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
[10] T.M. Chenthil, Durairaj, Ravindran, M.D. Anand, Machining parameters influencing in
electro chemical machining on AA6061 MMC, Mat.Tech. 50 (2016) 951–960.
[11] Ramandeep Singh, Nikhil Gandotra, Ayyappan Solaiyappan, Study of different work
materials effect on surface roughness in electrochemical machining process, Int. J. Res.
Engg. Tech. (2015) 505–512.
[12] Aykut Canakci, F. Arslan, Temel Varol, Effect of volume fraction and size of B4C particles
on production and microstructure properties of B4C reinforced aluminium alloy
composites, Mat. Sci. Tech. 29 (2013) 950–960.
[13] Mohan Kumar, Pramod Kumar, Mahto, Divya Kushwaha, N.K. Singh, Electrochemical
Please cite this article as: S. A. A. Daniel, S. V. Ananth, A. Parthiban et al., Optimization of machining parameters in electro chemical machining of Al5059/
SiC/MoS2 composites using taguchi method, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.750
important influencing the Material removal Rate (in rank order based
on % contribution). The Electrolyte concentration (EC), Inter
Electrode Gap (IEG) and voltage are the less influential parameter
for Material Removal Rate.
The maximum Material Removal Rate can be achieved by selecting
the best combination level is A3, B3, C2, D3, E3 (larger-is-better)
i.e., SiC 15%, SiC Size 40 mm, Voltage 15 V, Inter Electrode gap
0.3 mm, Inter-Electrode Gap 35gms/litre.
The minimum Surface Roughness can be achieved by selecting the
best combination level is A3, B2, C2, D1, E3 (smaller-is better) i.e.,
volume fraction 15%, size 10 mm, Voltage 15 V, Inter Electrode Gap
0.1 mm and Electrolyte concentration (EC) 35gms/litre.
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