Material Removal Rate, Kerf, and Surface Roughness of Tungsten Carbide Machined with Wire Electrical Discharge Machining

In this article, the effects of varying seven different machining parameters in addition to varying the material thickness on the machining responses such as material removal rate, kerf, and surface roughness of tungsten carbide samples machined by wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) were investigated. The design of experiments was based on a Taguchi orthogonal design with 8 control factors with three levels each, requiring a set of 27 experiments that were repeated three times. ANOVA was carried out after obtaining the responses to determine the significant factors. The work piece thickness was expected to have a major effect on the material removal rate but showed to be significant in the case of surface roughness only. Finally, optimization of the machining responses was carried out and models for the material removal rate, kerf, and surface roughness were created. The models were validated through confirmation experiments that showed significant improvements in machining performance for all investigated machining outcomes.