Abstract
Electrical discharge machining or Wire electrical discharge machining have proven to be an alternate mean for machining nonconducting materials to a certain extent. Application of assisting electrode over the surface of the non-conducting material plays an important role in successful machining. A numerical model is formulated to understand the effect of assisting electrode and its thickness on material removal characteristics. The modelling is carried out for a 2-D axis-symmetric geometry using Finite element and Finite volume method. The work piece is subjected to a Gaussian distribution of heat flux through an assisting electrode layer. The thermal analysis show satisfactory results for machining of non-conducting materials by wire electrical discharge machining process. An increase in the assisting electrode thickness has resulted in higher heat dissipation rate along the radial direction as compared to the vertical depth. The developed solver has been validated with the experimental and numerical results of previous literature.
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Meinam Annebushan Singh is a Research Scholar in Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Meghalaya, India. His area of research is in experimental and numerical analysis on nonconventional machining techniques with a focus on machining of ceramics. He has four papers in his credit.
Koushik Das is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Meghalaya, India. His research domain mainly focuses on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics. There are more than 10 research publications to his credit. He is a reviewer of Journal of Thermal Biology and Applied Mathematical Modelling.
Deba Kumar Sarma is a Professor and Associate Dean (Planning & Development), NIT Meghalaya, India. His research interest are in the field of machining design and manufacturing, application of soft computing technique in machining and non-conventional machining processes. He has published nine international journals and eight paper in international conference proceedings.
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Singh, M.A., Das, K. & Sarma, D.K. Thermal simulation of machining of alumina with wire electrical discharge machining process using assisting electrode. J Mech Sci Technol 32, 333–343 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-1233-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-1233-7