Experimental Investigation and Optimization during the Fabrication of Arrayed Structures Using Reverse EDM

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Abstract
In recent years, reverse electric discharge machining (R-EDM) has been evolved as a method for the fabrication of arrayed structures for surface texturing which find applications in fabrication of fins and component assembly. In this study, the feasibility of R-EDM process in the fabrication of arrayed features of ∅3 mm and height 2 mm on mild steel has been investigated utilizing response surface methodology (RSM)-based experimentation. Influence of control variables such as peak current (Ip), pulse-on time (Ton), and flushing pressure (Fp) on some of the vital geometric characteristics like taper and cylindricity error along with material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), microhardness, and surface morphology of pillared structure has been investigated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results show that Ip has a significant influence followed by Ton on MRR. Ip has a significant contribution toward SR, taper, and cylindricity error. High microhardness was found in heat-affected zone (HAZ). The optimal combination of parameter obtained using principal component analysis (PCA)-based grey relational analysis (GRA) is determined to be Ip = 10 A, Ton = 100 μs, and Fp = 0.3 kg/cm2, which was further ascertained using confirmatory test.