Experimental characterization of dry EDMperformed in a pulsating magnetic eld

S. Joshi
a
, P. Govindan
a
, A. Malshe (2)
b,
*, K. Rajurkar (1)
c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
c
Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
1. Introduction
Dry EDM uses gas as dielectric medium, and is a potential
alternative for liquid dielectric based EDM. It is characterized by
simplicity, low viscosity of dielectric helping better debris evacua-
tion, low wear of tool electrode, thin white layer on machined
surfaces and eco-friendliness [1]. However, major challenges in dry
EDM process are low stability of arc column, low material removal
rate, arcing and poor surface quality as compared to conventional
EDM. A few researchers have attempted to improve process
performance with a limited success [2]. Their efforts involve
operating in a quasi-explosion mode [3], providing tool rotation/
planetary motions [1], ultrasonically vibrating the workpiece [4],
applying water and oil mist [5], and shielding spark [6].
Unlike the use of permanent magnetic eld in an earlier work
[7] for a limited objective of debris manipulation, this work uses a
pulsating magnetic eld around the dry EDM plasma, like a jacket,
to provide magnetic eld tangential to the plasma. Also, the
pulsation reduces magnetic ux losses over the continuous eld. It
was hypothesized that the eld would assist in increasing the
plasma ionization and allows control the plasma expansion.
Incidentally, such requirements are not prevalent in liquid
dielectric EDMas relatively higher density liquid dielectric ensures
focused plasma. The objective of this paper therefore is to assess
the performance and mechanism of material removal in pulsed
magnetic eld assisted dry EDM process (MFA dry EDM) vis-a -vis
the process without magnetic eld (WMFA dry EDM). In addition,
the tool wear, dimensional accuracy and machined surface
characteristics are studied.
2. Experimental details
The pulsating magnetic eld is provided using a triangular
conguration of electromagnets energized by a 030 V DC variable
switch mode power supply, which actuates magnets sequentially.
The magnetic eld was varied from0.1 T to 0.3 T. The magnetic ux
lines around each electromagnet results in a tangential magnetic
eld, which is in anticlockwise direction as seen from the top (see
Fig. 1a and b). As the magnets are energized sequentially, they
generate a rotating magnetic eld around the spark. The eld
inuences owof major current carriers i.e. electrons inthe dryEDM
process. It is knownthat a vector addition of electrical force F
e
due to
electric eld, and the magnetic force F
m
due to magnetic eld B
R
,
yields resultant force F
R
acting on the electrons (Fig. 1a). The force F
R
deects electrons byanangleu towards the sparking region(Fig. 1a).
Consequently, the magnetic eld helps generation of Lorentz forces
[8] in the discharge region. It causes: (i) an increase in the electron
density and consequentlythe energy of the dry EDMplasma, and (ii)
a reduction in the mean free path of electrons by constraining their
motion, thereby giving rise to an increase in ionization due to
multiple collisions between charged particles [8]. To assess the
performance of MFAdry EDMand WMFAdry EDM, a total of ninety-
three experiments were performed using the parameters and their
levels, and using design of experiments (DOE), see Table 1. Oxygen
pressure refers to the input pressure of the gaseous medium and
switching frequency is the frequency of pulsation of the electro-
magnets around the inter-electrode gap.
Copper pipes of OD: 4.25 mm, ID: 3.25 mm with end faces
polished were used as tool electrodes. Oxygen gas with99.9%purity,
that promotes exothermic oxidation [3] and the oxides deposition
increases electronemissionfromcathode[9], was usedas adielectric
uid. The gas was passed into the inter-electrode gap through the
pipe electrodes (see Fig. 1b). Two Stainless steel split workpieces,
each of size 27 mm 14 mm 10 mm, with their mating faces
highly polished were used as work specimens. All the drilling
experiments were performed at the intersection of the split work
specimensusinganexperimental set-up(Fig. 1bandc) onaCNCEDM
machine in a quasi-explosion mode [3] to maximize MRR.
Therefore, thepulseoff-timewas takenas one-sixthof pulseon-time.
The MRR and TWR were calculated on the ultrasonically cleaned
work and tool specimens, by measuring their weight difference
CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 60 (2011) 239242
A R T I C L E I N F O
Keywords:
Dry EDM
Pulsating magnetic eld
Material removal rate
A B S T R A C T
This paper presents an investigation of the hybrid dry EDM process performed in a pulsating magnetic
eld for improving process performance. In this study, the pulsating magnetic eld is applied tangential
to the electric eld, for increasing the movement of electrons and degree of ionization in the plasma.
Experiments with parametric variations showed that this hybrid approach leads to productivity-
improvement by 130% and zero tool wear as compared to the dry EDM process without the magnetic
eld. The improvement in surface quality is illustrated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
2011 CIRP.
* Corresponding author.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology
j ournal homepage: ht t p: / / ees. el sevi er. com/ ci rp/ def aul t . asp
0007-8506/$ see front matter 2011 CIRP.
doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2011.03.114
before and after machining, respectively. The dimensions of the tool
and machined holes were measured to evaluate oversize (%). The
machined surfaces morphology and the compositional variations on
themwere analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and
energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), respectively.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. MRR improvement
A comparative evaluation of MRR in MFA dry EDM and WMFA
dry EDM shows that a maximum improvement of 130% was
observed in trial #11 (65 V, 12 A, 33 ms, 0.25 MPa, 100 rpm, 0.3 T
and 100 Hz) over the corresponding experiment without using
magnetic eld. See Fig. 1e for the best ve trials. The results were
replicated once. In general, a minimum improvement in MRR of
41% was found in all the trials using the pulsating magnetic eld.
We propose that the increase in MRR due to the use of magnetic
eld is because of the following reasons: (i) In the MFA dry EDM,
the magnetic force acts tangential to the plasma and prevents its
expansion. It increases the plasma pressure (P), thereby reduces
the mean free path (l) and consequently increases the density of
the plasma given by,
l
RT
2
0:5
pd
2
N
A
(1)
where R is the universal gas constant, T is the temperature of the
gas, d is the diameter of a gas molecule and N
A
is the Avogadros
number. See schematic in Fig. 1d. (ii) A decrease in the mean free
path of the ions increases the number of ionization events (a) in
the inter-electrode gap given by:
a PAexp
BP
E

(2)
where A and B are constants for a particular gas, P is plasma
pressure and E is the electric eld in the inter-electrode gap. (iii)
The magnetic eld increases the inter-molecular collisions and
contributes to the ionization, which helps faster dielectric break-
down given by the breakdown criteria:
g
1
e
a:V
B
=E
1
(3)
where g is number of electrons emitted fromcathode due to initial
ionization and V
B
is the breakdown voltage. As a result, electronic
current density j
e
and the energy (J) of the plasma increase as given
by [10]:
J pr
2
c
j
e
V (4)
where r
c
is the radius of a micro-peak on cathode emitting
electrons, and V is the voltage across cathode and anode. Thus, the
application of magnetic eld controls the plasma expansion and
increases the energy at the anode thereby increasing MRR in the
MFA dry EDM (see Fig. 1d). In MFA dry EDM, magnetic force on
oxygen molecule and ions causes 40% higher oxidation reactions
thereby increasing MRR [11].
3.2. Parametric analysis of MRR
An improvement in MRR in dry EDM due to the application of
magnetic eld is shown in Fig. 2ag. A linear increase in MRR with
an increase in current (I) is due to increase in discharge energy (E
d
):
E
d

Z
Ton
0
VtIt dt (5)
where T
on
is the pulse on-time. The relative increase in MRR in MFA
dry EDM over the WMFA process is due to the effect of magnetic
eld and consequent increase in ionization. The MRR increases
with electrode rotation speed (N) too (Fig. 2b). The electrode

Fig. 1. a: Schematic of tangential magnetic eld and forces. b: Schematic of

pulsating electromagnetic eld application. c: Photograph of experimental set-up.
d: Reduced mean free path and more ionization in MFA dry EDM. e: Average
percentage improvement in MRR in MFA dry EDM and WMFA dry EDM.
Table 1
Input parameters and their levels.
Parameter Levels
1 2 3
Gap voltage, V (V) 50 65 80
Discharge current, I (A) 12 15 18
Pulse off time, T
off
(ms) 22 33 67
Oxygen pressure, P (MPa) 0.15 0.20 0.25
Electrode speed, N (rpm) 100 200 300
Magnetic eld, B (T) 0.1 0.2 0.3
Switching frequency, f
s
(Hz) 100 10 1

Fig. 2. ag: A comparative parametric plots for MRR in MFA dry EDM and WMFA dry EDM.
S. Joshi et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 60 (2011) 239242 240
rotation helps improve uniformity of sparking and imparts a
centrifugal force (F
c
), given by
F
c

m
d
4p
2
N
2
3600
(6)
on the molten droplets of mass m
d
, thereby promoting more
melting of debris, which is another way of debris evacuation, as
explained in material transfer phenomena in the next section. An
increase in magnetic eld (B) from0.1 T to 0.3 T, causes an increase
in MRR (Fig. 2c) from0.88 to 0.98 mm
3
/min. We believe, this is due
to connement of plasma and increased ionization in plasma as
explained earlier. As the gap voltage increases from 50 V to 80 V,
the MRR further increases by 3% and then decreases (Fig. 2d). This
could be because: (i) as the inter-electrode gap (d) increases, the
voltage increases, which causes an expansion of the plasma for
same V/d [12], thereby reducing MRR, also (ii) an increase in
voltage causes a decrease in discharge delay time, consequently
de-ionization remains incomplete that leads to arcing [13].
3.3. Parametric analysis of TWR
In MFA dry EDM, the magnitude of negative tool wear (material
transfer fromwork to tool electrode) is lower and close to one-fth
than that in WMFA dry EDM (see Fig. 3ag). Zero electrode wear
was observed in ve experiments (#1, #3, #4, #11, #12) in MFAdry
EDM, where voltage and current used were low. However, in the
WMFA dry EDM, the zero electrode wear was evident in only two
cases (#6 and #11). The analysis of mechanismof material transfer
in dry EDM [10] has shown that for a molten droplet, the distance
traveled by the droplet away from the inter-electrode gap to avoid
deposition (s) is proportional to the square of the time (d) before it
solidies, as given by
s
Fd
2
2m
d
(7)
where F is the drag force on a debris particle. Since the anode
temperature is higher in MFA dry EDM, the molten particles
remain at higher temperature for longer duration (d) as compared
to WMFA dry EDM. Hence, the possibility of molten droplets
depositing on electrode is less in MFA dry EDM. Therefore, there is
less negative tool wear in MFA dry EDM. As discharge current (I)
increases, the deposition on the electrode increases. This effect is
much lower (by 3550%) in the case of MFA dry EDM(Fig. 3a). This
we believe is because of higher removal of molten droplets and
decreasing deposition. An increase in voltage (V) increases the
deposition on the electrode (Fig. 3b). As discussed in material
removal mechanismearlier [13], a high voltage causes non-uniform
temperature distribution on molten droplets due to arcing, and
reduces the distance of expulsion. Anincreaseinpulseoff-time(T
off
),
decreases the deposition on the electrode (Fig. 3c). Thus we believe
that an increase in pulse off-time helps in sufcient deionization of
plasma and recovery of dielectric strength, thereby reducing arcing.
As the pressure (P) increases, the deposition on the electrode
increases (Fig. 3d). An increase in gas pressure causes more cooling
effect of the molten droplet, thereby reducing the distance (s) and
promoting their early deposition.
As discussed, an increase in temperature of electrode also
reduces deposition. An increase in switching frequency (f
s
)
decreases deposition on tool (Fig. 3f). The increased switching
frequency causes more ionization and consequent release of more
electrons from cathode. It increases the temperature of cathode
causing melting of droplets and increase in their distance traveled
lowering possibility of deposition of droplets.
3.4. Parametric analysis of geometric oversize (%)
As explained in the mechanism of material removal, the
magnetic eld connes the plasma in MFA dry EDM, consequently
reduces the geometric oversize in the process (Fig. 4ag). The
controlling parameters in MFA dry EDM are: V, I, P, B and f
s
. As
current (I) increases, the geometric oversize increases linearly
because the effect of current is to widen the crater [12].
An increase in switching frequency (f
s
) causes a linear decrease
in oversize (Fig. 4b), because of the frequent action of force (F
R
)
around the plasma that helps conne the plasma. As voltage (V)
increases, the oversize increases (Fig. 4c). The expansion of dry
EDM plasma due to higher inter-electrode gap (d) also causes a
higher oversize. An increase in pressure (P) decreases the oversize
(Fig. 4d). An increase in quantity of oxygen gas dielectric increases
the number of free electrons and oxygen ions in the gap and higher
connement of electrons occurs.

Fig. 3. ag: A comparative parametric plots for TWR in MFA dry EDM and WMFA dry EDM.

Fig. 4. ag: A comparative parametric plots for oversize at entry in MFA dry EDM and WMFA dry EDM.
S. Joshi et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 60 (2011) 239242 241
3.5. Analysis of machined surface topography
The topographical analysis of the machined surfaces using SEM
shows the presence of micro-cracks, blowholes and dimples,
however, they are signicantly smaller in number in MFA dry EDM
as compared to the WMFA dry EDM. River lines indicate presence
of tensile stresses [14], which are very low in the case of MFA dry
EDM surface (see Fig. 5ad). The compositional analysis of
machined surfaces however shows that there is an increase in
alloying on surfaces in MFA dry EDM, with a reduction (in wt%) in
Fe and increase in (in wt%) C, Cu and O as compared to WMFA dry
EDM. This indicates that magnetic eld increases alloying in dry
EDM. However, EDS results on MFA dry EDM machined surfaces
showa larger migration of tool element (Cu), oxygen and carbon to
the workpiece, unlike dry EDM without the eld.
3.6. Process optimization
The experimental analysis shows that the maximum MRR of
1.247 mm
3
/min was obtained at (V-80 V, I-18 A, T
off
-67 ms, P-
0.15 MPa, N-300 rpm, B-0.3 T, f
s
-10 Hz). The zero TWR was
obtained in other ve trials, where the other parameters are at
central level of experiments. Similarly, minimum oversize
(11.92%) at entry was obtained at (V-80 V, I-12 A, T
off
-22 ms, P-
0.25 MPa, N-200 rpm, B-0.3 T, f
s
-10 Hz).
4. Summary
A new hybrid approach using pulsating magnetic eld
assistance is introduced to conne dry EDM plasma and improve
process performance. It is demonstrated that the magnetic eld,
due to higher ionization and plasma connement, aids a higher
transfer of thermal energy to the workpiece and helps to improvise
material removal mechanism and melting in dry EDM. An
improvement in the geometric accuracy and the machined surface
quality were evident.
Acknowledgement
Authors (SJ & PG) thank DST-India (Project: 08DST058) for
nancial support.
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Fig. 5. ad: A comparison of surface topography in MFA dry EDM and WMFA dry
EDM.
S. Joshi et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 60 (2011) 239242 242