Characterization and Evaluation of Novel Maglev EDM with Existing EDM

Abstract At present, the machining performance of the existing EDM technology depends upon the commonly used pulsed power supply and gap control mechanism. The complexity and the higher cost of the above said vital components, reflected in the product cost. A simple electrical circuit has been applied to control the voltage and the electric magnet so that the tool electrode can levitate over the workpiece at the desired distance (electrode gap). A prototype is fabricated with the DC power supply and the maglev levitation mechanism. To evaluate novel maglev EDM technology with the existing EDM technology, experiments were conducted on Ti-6Al-4V alloy with a brass tool. The discharge waveform of maglev EDM has shown the discharge voltage and current and the absence of short-circuit at high duty factor. A predictive model is formulated by dimensional analysis based on MRR and average surface roughness. The experimental result of conventional EDM from the literature were used to prepare the model. The maglev EDM is showing higher MRR and surface roughness than the prediction. Surface morphology showed similar surfaces as formed in EDM. The specific energy analysis showed that the developed maglev EDM performs in reported data range. It is noted that the proposed technology is in its early stage and the performance is significantly comparable with the existing technology. Therefore, it is expected that the research in this area may help to develop an economically sustainable alternative to the existing costly and complex EDM technology.