A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF WIRE ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING PARAMETERS ON THE PROCESSING OF TRADITIONALLY MANUFACTURED AND ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED 316L STAINLESS STEEL SPECIMENS

摘要

Wire electric discharge machining (EDM) is a non-traditional machining method that has the ability to machine hard, conductive materials, with no force and high precision. This technology is used in industries, like the aerospace industry, to create precision parts used in high stress applications. Wire EDM is also commonly used in additive manufacturing (AM) applications to remove printed parts from the base-plates onto which they are printed. Numerous studies show the effects of EDM parameters, like pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and cutting voltage, on the processing of traditionally fabricated metal parts. However, very few studies identify how the parameters of wire EDM affect the processing of AM parts. This paper studies the effect of wire EDM pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and cutting voltage on the machining time, surface roughness, and hardness of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel cylinders. The effects of these wire EDM parameters are then tested on the machining time, surface roughness, and hardness of wrought 316L stainless steel cylinders. It was found that machining time of AM samples was statistically significantly lower than wrought samples and also had better surface finish and lower surface hardness.