Investigating the Effect of Machining Parameters on Microdrilling of Titanium Grade 19 Alloy Available to Purchase

Electrical Discharge Micro Drilling (EDMD) is considered as one of the most effective method for machining difficult to cut and hard materials like titanium alloy. However, selection of process parameters for achieving superior surface finish, higher machining rate and accuracy is a challenging task in drilling micro-holes. In this paper, an attempt is made to optimize micro-EDM process parameters for drilling micro holes on titanium grade 19 alloy. In order to verify the optimal micro-EDM process parameters settings, material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and over cut (OC) were chosen as the responses to be observed. Pulse on time, pulse off time, electrode diameter and current were selected as the governing process parameters for evaluation by Taguchi method. Nine micro holes of 300 μm, 400 μm and 500 μm were drilled using L9 orthogonal array (OA) design. Optimal combination of machining parameters were obtained through Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio analysis. It is seen that machining performances like material removal rate and overcut are affected by the peak current whereas electrode wear is affected by peak current and electrode diameter. Morphology of the micro holes has been studied through SEM micrographs of machined micro-hole.