Optimizing dimensional accuracy of titanium alloy features produced by wire electrical discharge machining

Abstract

This study investigates geometrical errors such as cylindricity, circularity and diametral errors of a feature (a hole) produced from wire electrical discharge machining of Ti6Al4V alloy where tension in wire, pulse on time, and flushing pressure are varied. Pareto analysis of variance (ANOVA), Taguchi design of experiment (DoE), and traditional analysis estimate the influence of variables on errors of holes. It was noted that flushing pressure is the most significant factor with individual contributions of 31.02%, 49.5% and 37.84% to circularity, cylindricity, and diametral errors, respectively. The circularity error of holes decreases as the flushing pressure and tension in wire rise, but decreases with the rise of pulse on time. The cylindricity error decreased with the increase of wire tension, flushing pressure and pulse on time. The absolute diametral error reduced as the pulse on time and tension in wire raised, but it raised with the rise of pulse on time. All these trends are associated with the influence of tension in wire on the flexibility of wire, the dependence of heat generation and dissipation on pulse on time, and ability of the flushing pressure to control the cooling, as well as debris removal from the machining zone.