CK45 steel is a material that has a wide range of applications in military and automotive industry. It can be classified as a difficult-to-cut material, not suitable for traditional machining. The present paper presents a study of the optimum selection of wire electric discharge machining (WEDM) conditions for CK45 steel. Feeding speed, duty factor, water pressure, wire tension and wire speed have been considered the main factors affecting WEDM performance criteria. The process performances such as; material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), and surface roughness (SR) were evaluated. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to develop experimental models. The surface composition of the machined surface was examined through X-ray diffraction technique. The results reveal that the feeding speed and duty factor are the most vital factors controlling the MRR. Water pressure has been found a sensible effect of MRR especially at a higher feeding speed. Further, the minimum tool wear rate has been obtained at the parametric combination of low feeding speed and low duty factor. It has also been clarified that the increase of wire tension and wire speed lead to a relatively insignificant change in surface quality.
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