Experimental Analysis of Aluminum PMEDM of Nimonic C-263

Electric discharge machining (EDM) is based on an advanced thermo-electric process that can process any electrically conductive material, regardless of its hardness. During the EDM process, metallic grains or powders are mixed with the dielectric medium to obtain improved results, which is termed as powder mixed EDM (PMEDM). In this investigation, aluminum PMEDM of the superalloy Nimonic C-263 has been conducted under various process parameters, namely peak current (Ipc), pulse-on-time (Tx), and pulse-off-time (Ty). PMEDM achieves enhanced performance in surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR) compared to pure EDM. The results show an increase in MRR with an increment in Ipc, Tx, and Ty. However, at higher values of Tx and Ty, MRR declines for PMEDM. Tool wear rate (TWR) and Ra increase with Ipc and Tx. At higher levels of Tx, tool wear declines for both pure EDM and PMEDM.