Exploring Wire-EDM for Manufacturing the High Quality Meso-gears

AbstractContinuous trend of miniaturization of engineering components has emphasized on the requirement of high quality meso-gears. The processes for manufacturing of these gears need to be highly precise and accurate. This paper reports on exploring the wire electric discharge machining (WEDM) process for manufacturing the high quality meso-gears made of brass through preliminary experimental investigations. The objective was to identify the feasible range of the four important WEDM parameters (i.e. voltage, pulse-on time, pulse-off time and wire feed rate) from the entire working range available on the WEDM machine so as to minimize wire breakage frequency and surface roughness, and maximize the machining rate. The gears manufactured within the bracketed ranges of WEDM parameters were inspected for micro-geometry (profile and pitch) and surface integrity. Better quality (up-to DIN standard 6) and surface integrity aspects of the WEDMed gears proved the capability and superiority of WEDM for manufacturing the high quality meso-gears