A review of the available literature indicates that the development of metal-reinforced castings present intriguing prospects but carry inherent challenges owing to differences in thermal coefficients, chemical affinities, diffusion issues and the varying nature of intermetallic compounds. It is supported that pressure application during solidification may favorably influence the dynamics of the aforementioned issues; nevertheless, not only certain limitations have been cited, but also some pressure and process regimes have not yet been investigated and optimized. This work employs the pressure-assisted approach for bimetallic steel-reinforced aluminum composite castings at a low-pressure regime and thoroughly investigates the role of three process parameters, namely pouring temperature (800–900 °C), pressure (10–20 bars) and holding time (10–20 s), for producing sound interfaces. The Taguchi L9 orthogonal array has been employed as the Design of the Experiment, while dominant factors have been determined via analysis of variance and the grey relational analysis multi-objective optimization technique. Supplementary analysis through optical micrographs, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) has been utilized to quantify interfacial layer thicknesses and to study microstructural and compositional aspects of the interface. Nano-indentation tests under static and dynamic loading have also been performed for mechanical strength characterization. It has been found that uniform interfaces with verifiable diffusion are obtainable, with the pouring temperature being the most influential parameter (percentage contribution 92.84%) in this pressure regime. The experiments performed at optimum conditions of pouring temperature, applied pressure and holding time produced a ~328% thicker interface layer, 19.42% better nano-hardness and a 19.10% improved cooling rate as compared to the minimum input values of the said parameters.

Review of the available literature on powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PMEDM) indicates, that most of the research has been done for “die sinking machining mode” whereas the “wire cut machining mode” has not received due attention despite being an important process variant. This work employs Silicon Carbide (SiC) powder mixed dielectric fluid for machining of AISI D2 in “wire cut” mode with re-circulating molybdenum wire (an economic and chemically stable proposition as tool). The effect of five process parameters (powder concentration, peak current, pulse on time, nozzle flushing pressure and stand-off distance) have been evaluated on surface roughness, kerf width, material removal rate and wire wear ratio using Taguchi’s approach. It is found that for surface roughness, higher current and low to moderate concentration levels (2 to 4g/l) deteriorate surface quality; higher values of pressure and stand-off distance are also seen to adversely affect it. For material removal rate, pulse on time as well as its interactions with powder concentration and current, are statistically significant. A higher pulse on with smaller and moderate powder concentrations (2g/l and 4g/l) reduces MRR. For wire wear ratio, current is the sole significant factor (PCR of ~ 65%). SEM analysis of the machined workpiece for the maximum MRR condition quantifies recast layer as ~ 19microns. An indirect comparison with the reported values for non-powdered EDM process indicates that for the similar wire (molybdenum), the use of SiC powder maintains the surface roughness and kerf values, for a much harder D2 material used in this work.

Review of the available literature indicates that development of metal reinforced castings present intriguing prospects but carry inherent challenges owing to differences in thermal coefficients, chemical affinities, diffusion issues and varying nature of intermetallic compounds. It is supported that pressure application during solidification may favorably influence the dynamics of the aforementioned issues, nevertheless, not only certain limitations have been cited but also some pressure and process regimes have not been found to be investigated and optimized. This work employs the pressure-assisted approach for bi-metallic steel reinforced aluminum composite castings at low-pressure regime and thoroughly investigates the role of three process parameters namely pouring temperature (800°C-900°C), pressure (10–20 bars) and holding time (10–20 sec) for producing sound interfaces. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array has been employed as DOE while dominant factors have been determined via ANOVA and Grey relational analysis multi-objective optimization technique. Supplementary analysis through optical micrographs, SEM and EDS has been relied upon to quantify interfacial layer thicknesses and to study microstructural and compositional aspects of the interface. Nano-indentation tests under static and dynamic loading have also been performed for mechanical strength characterization. It has been found that uniform interfaces with verifiable diffusion are obtainable with pouring temperature being the most influential parameter (PCR 92.84%) in this pressure regime. Optimum parameters determined from the work, yield ~ 328% thicker interface layer, 19.42% better nano-hardness and 19.10% improved cooling rate when compared to the process conditions with least parametric levels.

Review of the available literature on powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PMEDM) indicates, that most of the research has been done for "die sinking machining mode" whereas the "wire cut machining mode" has not received due attention despite being an important process variant. This work employs Silicon Carbide (SiC) powder mixed dielectric uid for machining of AISI D2 in "wire cut" mode with re-circulating molybdenum wire (an economic and chemically stable proposition as tool). The effect of ve process parameters (powder concentration, peak current, pulse on time, nozzle ushing pressure and stand-off distance) have been evaluated on surface roughness, kerf width, material removal rate and wire wear ratio using Taguchi's approach. It is found that for surface roughness, higher current and low to moderate concentration levels (2 to 4g/l) deteriorate surface quality; higher values of pressure and stand-off distance are also seen to adversely affect it. For material removal rate, pulse on time as well as its interactions with powder concentration and current, are statistically signi cant. A higher pulse on with smaller and moderate powder concentrations (2g/l and 4g/l) reduces MRR. For wire wear ratio, current is the sole signi cant factor (PCR of ~ 65%). SEM analysis of the machined workpiece for the maximum MRR condition quanti es recast layer as ~ 19microns. An indirect comparison with the reported values for non-powdered EDM process indicates that for the similar wire (molybdenum), the use of SiC powder maintains the surface roughness and kerf values, for a much harder D2 material used in this work.