An Experimental Investigation on Micro Drilling of Cold Work Steel X153CrMoV12 By EDM

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to analyze the effects of machining parameters on the process quality by drilling holes in heat treated cold work tool steel with a hardness of 60-62 HRC using the electrical discharge machining (EDM) method and Ø2 mm diameter brass electrodes. In this context, drilling was performed using three different current values ​​(5, 6, 7 A), three different voltage values ​​(1, 2, 3 V), three different discharge pulse frequency Ton (23, 26, 29 µs) as well as Toff (3, 5 µs) respectively, and the effects of these machining parameters on the machining time, material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR), surface roughness (SR) and hardness of around the white layer were analyzed using micro, macro and analytical measurements, especially with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX). As a result of the analysis, ıt was observed that current, voltage, Ton and Toff had an effect on machining time, MRR, EWR, SR and hardness, but current was the most effective parameter, and also worn electrode as well as workpiece residues affected the process quality. Increasing the machining current increased sparking between the workpiece and the electrode, resulting in increased point melting and evaporation, resulting in increased average surface roughness, metal removal rate, and electrode wear rate. As a result of the high metal removal rate, the machining time was greatly reduced and the thermal effect time was reduced, which led to a decrease in the hardness variation on the machined surfaces.