Original Article

Experimental investigation of wire electrical discharge machining parameters on WE43 magnesium alloy

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Kalavakkam – 603 110, Tamil Nadu, India
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tiruchirappalli Campus, Tiruchirappalli – 621 105, Tamil Nadu, India
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Near Virudhunagar, Madurai – 625 701, Tamilnadu, India

^* e-mail: selvakumarg@ssn.edu.in

Received: 30 August 2023
Accepted: 8 January 2024

Abstract

The influence of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) factors on the WE43 magnesium alloy is experimentally investigated in this work. Voltage, peak current, pulse-on time, and pulse-off time, are some of the factors taken into consideration in the study. The goal of the study is to understand how the output responses like material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), and development of recast layers are affected by the factors like voltage, peak current, pulse-on time and pulse-off time. The experimental set-up used a wire electrical discharge machine with a brass wire electrode and a workpiece made of the WE43 magnesium alloy. The L₂₇ orthogonal array was used to alter the selected parameters through a series of experiments. The findings of the experimental investigation showed a strong link between the output responses and the electrical discharge machining (EDM) parameters. Peak current was discovered to have a direct correlation with the rate of material removal, with greater currents resulting in faster machining. SR and MRR were affected by pulse-on time and pulse-off time. Voltage had a direct impact on the development and thickness of the recast layer, with higher voltages favoring thinner recast layers.