Optimizing the Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (W-EDM) Technique for Al-l2O3/B4C Composite Materials

The rapid advancement of composite material manufacturing is essential in sustaining market growth across multiple industries. This study investigates the impact of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) of Al-Al2O3-B4C composites, which is affected by process variables such as wire feed rate, sample compositions, input current, and pulse time. The two reinforcement particles (wt% of alumina and boron carbide) and three input parameters, pulse-on time (PON), Wire Feed Rate (WFR), and Input current (Ip), were chosen to demonstrate the effect on the output response of Material Removal Rate (MRR) and Roughness Average (Ra). The Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) method determines hybrid composite materials' MRR and Ra. The Al-based MMC contains micro particles of alumina (45-micron mesh size, 99.90% purity) and Boron Carbide (50micron mesh size, 99.95% purity). Al2O3 and B4C reinforce Al 6061 at weight percentages of 1, 3, 5%, and 1, 2, and 3%, respectively. The stir casting technique is used for composite preparation because it produces a homogeneous mixture. Based on the experimental findings, augmenting the PON and input current leads to a rise in the MRR, while decreasing the PON time and input current improves surface roughness; thus, PON and Ip are highly influencing parameters for MRR, while surface roughness and wire feed rate are fewer influencing parameters. Surface roughness and MRR were improved by using the parameters obtained by the GRA technique, which included a wire feed rate of 6 m/min, input current of 10 A, PON of 105 µs, and Al-MMC Aluminum 6061 with 1% and 5% by weight of boron carbide and alumina.