Detailed Experimental Investigations on Machinability of EN31 Steel by WEDM

EN31 steel is a potential member in automobile industry, and achieving dimensional accuracy with outstanding surface characteristics is a challenging task while machining this alloy. The current investigations deal with wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) of EN31 die steel and establish a fundamental understanding of the process parameters on micro-scale machined surface characteristics. WEDM parameters such as pulse on-time, servo voltage, wire feed and wire tension are grouped in an efficient way to understand the influence of these parameters on edge roughness, kerf width and cutting rate. The current study revealed that low pulse on-time and servo voltage decreased kerf width and edge roughness. However, cutting rate decreased with pulse on-time but increased with servo voltage. Wire tension and wire feed were found to have diverse effects on the response parameters. While edge roughness varied inversely, kerf width was directly proportional to the wire feed corresponding to lower wire tension.