Taguchi’s Methodology Based Electrochemical Discharge Machining of Polymer Matrix Composites

The polymer composites has gained its reputation among advance materials in recent years due to their prominent mechanical properties. Still, the machining of these materials induces lots of problem because of their fibrous nature. In this paper, an attempt has been made to machine micro hole in polymer matrix composites (PMCs) using electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) process. The experimentation was based on Taguchi’s methodology and results were analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Voltage, electrolyte concentration and inter-electrode gap were used as input process parameters whereas material removal rate (MRR) was observed as output quality characteristic. The state of the machined hole was analyzed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to find out most influential process parameters during ECDM of PMCs for each response.