Experimental Analysis on Machining Properties of Aluminum Hybrid Composite Materials

Hybrid Composite materials meet a major demand in current industrial market through mixture of various percentages of metal compositions at different levels. One such material, which is most widely employed, is aluminum. Aluminum hybrid metal matrix composites is substituted with conventional alloys in order to meet the rigid, high-end requirements at major industries. In this work, it is reinforced with Aluminum-Tungsten Carbide-Graphite composite and fabricated using the stir casting process. Die sinking electric discharge machining (EDM) process is preferred over conventional process for the purpose of machining complex shaped materials with accuracy. The optimization of minimizing surface roughness and maximize material removal rate is essential to increase the effective and efficient usage of hybrid composites. In this experimental work, the sensitivity of various parameters of EDM on the output responses is found using Taguchi experimental design, Multi response optimization and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to generate the mathematical model. From the experiment, it is found that %WC = 6 %, %Gr = 3 %, I= 5A, V=50V, T_OFF=50μs, is the most optimal value among others due to its meta stable bonding in improving the machining parameters to achieve optimization of minimizing surface roughness and maximizing material removal rate