Performance Prediction of Electrode Materials on Surface Roughness During Electric Discharge Machining of HSLA Steel

Electrical discharge machining is emerging with a scorching potential to produce the tiniest to most complicated geometrical shapes in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, and marine applications in today's industrialized world. In the automotive industry, HSLA steel offers a fantastic opportunity to reduce weight while maintaining strength. The primary applications for HSLA steel include oil pipelines, construction equipment, and road vehicles. With copper and graphite electrodes, the authors, therefore, seek to explore the surface roughness (SR) of high-strength low alloy (HSLA) steel during high-precision machining. To test the output response SR, the input parameters pulse on time, current, and duty factor is chosen. Surface roughness of 0.64 and 0.81 µm is attained for copper-HSLA steel and graphite-HSLA steel, respectively, with 100 µs pulse on time, 4 A current, and 80% duty factor. Additionally, a mathematical model grounded in empirical data is built to verify surface roughness estimates.