Optimization of process parameters in Electro-chemical machining (ECM) of D3 die steels using Taguchi technique

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is one of the unconventional machining processes, which is employed to cut electrically conductive as well as hard materials with difficult contour profiles. Mainly these machines are employed in aerospace and aeronautical industries for blade profiling, etc. Even though, ECM provides many advantages like good surface finish, it incurs heavy initial investment cost and maintenance cost. Though operating these machines in the industries without proper input parameters leads to wastage of materials. Hence, better techniques have to be followed to obtain the optimized results. The most important process response in ECM is its surface roughness (R-a) and material removal rate (MRR). In this paper, D3 die steel has been used as the work piece material and many trials have been carried out to find the significant parameter affecting the response. The data obtained for the responses have been analyzed using Taguchi technique. This work describes the optimization of three most important parameters namely current, voltage and electrolyte concentration with an objective to minimize the Ra which is necessary in all automotive industries. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.