Optimization of Material Removal Rate and Surface Roughness for WEDM of Titanium Alloy (Ti-4.5Al-2V) Using Taguchi Method

In this paper, wire electric discharge machining (WEDM) of Titanium alloy (Ti-4.5Al-2V) is studied. In WEDM, the prime objective in cutting operation is to achieve the highest possible cutting speed along with desirable surface finish without sacrificing productivity. It is evident that a high material removal rate and a very good surface finish can never be achieved simultaneously in WEDM. Selection of optimal cutting parameters has a critical issue to achieve highquality in the machining process. In this study Design of Experiment (DOE) method for selection of optimal cutting parameters during WEDM of Titanium alloy (Ti-4.5Al-2V) is experimentally study moreover, the behavior of five control parameters such as taper angle, peak current, pulse on time, pulse off time and the dielectric flow rate on the machining performance, included Metal Removal Rate (MRR) and Surface Roughness (SR) is studied using Taguchi method. The optimum condition has been determined with the help of main effect plot and ANOVA table to find out which parameters have most affected the performance characteristics. The mathematical modeling has been carried out using Minitab 15 software and different models have been analyzed with the help of the Taguchi design using L18 orthogonal array. KeywordsWEDM, ANOVA, Taguchi method, MRR, Titanium alloy (Ti-4.5Al-2V), MRR.