OPTIMIZATIONOFPROCESSPARAMETERSFORSS304USINGTAGUCHIMETHODFORFUZZYLOGICCONTROLBASEDEDM.docVIP

OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR S.S. 304 USING TAGUCHI METHOD FOR FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL BASED E.D.M. 1 RATHOD K. B., 2 PATEL B. B., 3 MISTRY G. D. 1, 2 Mechanical Engineering Department, Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering, Visnagar, Gujarat, 384 315. 3 Government Polytechnic College, Himatnagar, 383 001. rathod_kb@yahoo.co.in ABSTRACT: Electro Discharge Machining is an advanced machining method that uses electrical energy to shape and cut metal parts. The objective of this paper is to investigate the optimum process parameters for a particular work piece-tool material combination by using Fuzzy Logic Control based Electrical Discharge Machine. In this study, three levels of each parameters viz. current, Pulse on time, spark gap and three different tools material are evaluated for process quality characteristics such as material removal rate, tool wear and surface finish. The three different tools materials used are copper, brass and aluminum. The S.S. 304 was taken as work piece material and DEF-92 as dielectric fluid. The experiments were designed using Taguchi Method. The results obtained from the experiments are transformed into signal to noise (S/N) ratio and used to optimize the value of material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate and surface finish. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed to indentify the statistical significance of parameters. The conclusions arrived at are critically discussed at the end. Keywords: E.D.M., Taguchi Technique, ANOVA, Surface Finish, MRR, Tool Wear Ratio. 1. INTRODUCTION For several decades, EDM has been an important manufacturing process for the mould and die industry. Although the EDM process is not affected by material hardness and strength, it is much slower compared to the milling and turning processes. To speed up the process, large electrical current discharge is usually required, but concurrently the dimensional quality of the machined product inevitably became worse. On the other hand, it is