Finite Element Analysis of Metal Removal Rate on AL/SIC-MMC Using EDM Process

Advancement in technology has led to development of many materials with better qualities in order to develop products of greater value. This has led to a search for better materials to satisfy the ever growing demands of product requirement. Composite materials are one such group of materials, they are formed by combining two or more materials to achieve certain desired properties. Among composite materials Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) are advanced materials in which metallic matrix (aluminium) is reinforced with hard ceramic such as Silicon Carbide to get superior properties like high strength, high stiffness, greater wear resistance, dimensional stability and ability to operate at elevated temperature. These materials are harder and comparatively have higher strength when compare to other materials therefore machining becomes difficult conventional machining process are not suitable for machining purpose due to which there is development in Non-conventional machining process one such process is EDM-(Electronic discharge machining) Metal removal rate (MRR), Surface roughness (SR) are the two most important parameters which can be measured and varied using EDM process. The surface roughness of the machined surfaces was measured with surface roughness measuring instrument SURFTRONIC 3+. The present paper deals with machining of metal matrix composites (MMCs) [aluminium + 30% SiC] In which MRR modelling has been carried out using axi-symmetric model of MMC during EDM machining. A FEA model of single spark EDM was developed to calculate the temperature distribution. Further, single spark model was extended to multi-discharge machining material removal was calculated by calculating the number of pulses and experiments were conducted using CNC Sinking Electrical Discharge Machine (CHMER Thai van Make) validation of model has been done by comparing experimental results with analytical results and good agreement was found out.