The influence of process parameters of EDM on the surface roughness of aluminum matrix composites reinforced with sic particulates

This paper investigates the effect of electrical discharge machining parameters on the surface roughness as an alternative method for machining of Al/SiCp metal matrix composites produced with the powder metallurgy. Current, electrode type, pulse-on-time, particle reinforcement weight ratio and voltage were used as the process parameters. An experimental plan (L18) was constituted by using the Taguchi orthogonal design. Results of experiments showed that pulse-on-time (34%) and current (31.26%) is the most influencing parameters. Besides this, the percentage contribution of particle reinforcement on the surface roughness is 6.71%