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Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials
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Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 13968

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Animesh Kumar Basak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Interests: microscopy; machining; 3D printing; tribology; nanostructure materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chander Prakash

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Punjab 144411, India
Interests: biomaterials; sustainable manufacturing; surface engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Alokesh Pramanik

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Interests: machining processes; CAD/CAM; digital manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Non-Conventional Machining of Hard Materials”, will address advances in the non-conventional machining of a wide range of materials, such as metals, ceramics, cermets, and alloys. The use of non-conventional machining technology to machine difficult-to-cut materials is of prime impotence in term of accuracy and overcoming the shortcomings of traditional machining processes such as the deterioration of machined surfaces due to heat exposure. Nevertheless, non-conventional machining has its own challenges, such as recast layer formation during the electrodischarge machining (EDM) process. Selecting the appropriate and economical machining process in any fabrication division is one of the most challenging tasks. Research challenges in the non-conventional machining process remain the same and are growing day-by-day in terms of minimizing product size and waste management.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect valuable research articles in which improved techniques are presented with significant contributions to the machining process. This Special Issue aims at the accumulation of recent trends and developments in this field—including experimental, simulation, and reviews. Explaining the advantages and disadvantages of procedures involved in the non-conventional machining process will allow the reader to understand more about the process and will help them to think of and develop more optimized procedures in the near future. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

  • Recent developments in the non-conventional machining process;
  • Modeling/simulation of non-conventional machining processes;
  • Hybrid non-conventional machining processes;
  • Optimization procedures of forming processes;
  • Surface damage models.

I look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Animesh Kumar Basak
Dr. Chander Prakash
Dr. Alokesh Pramanik
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metals
  • ceramics
  • alloys
  • electrodischarge machining (EDM)
  • ultrasonic machining
  • (abrasive) water jet machining
  • electron beam machining
  • later beam machining
  • ion beam machining

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2991 KiB  
Article
Formation and Characterization of the Recast Layer Formed on Inconel 718 during Wire Electro Discharge Machining
by Bandar Alkahlan, Thamer Tabbakh, Abdulaziz Kurdi, Alokesh Pramanik and Animesh K. Basak
Materials 2023, 16(3), 930; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16030930 - 18 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1552
Abstract
The present work investigates the formation and microstructural and micro-mechanical characterization of the recast layer that formed on Inconel 718 alloy in the course of the wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM). The as-machined surface contains globules, shallow cracks, and re-deposition of molten materials, together [...] Read more.
The present work investigates the formation and microstructural and micro-mechanical characterization of the recast layer that formed on Inconel 718 alloy in the course of the wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM). The as-machined surface contains globules, shallow cracks, and re-deposition of molten materials, together with the elements from the decomposition of wire electrode and electrolyte, which does not exceed beyond the surface of the recast layer. Under presently investigated machining parameters, the recast layer was about 6.2 ± 2.1 µm thick. There was no presence of a heat-affected zone (HAZ), as otherwise indicated for other hard-to-cut materials. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) investigations show that the microstructure of the recast layer is similar to that of bulk alloy. Micro-mechanical characterizations of the recast layer were investigated via in-situ micro-pillar compression on the micro-pillars fabricated on the recast layer. The strength of the superficial layer (1151.6 ± 51.1 MPa) was about 2.2 times higher than that of the base material (523.2 ± 22.1 MPa), as revealed by the in-situ micro-pillar compression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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10 pages, 6600 KiB  
Article
Electric Discharge Machining on Stainless Steel Using a Blend of Copper and Fly Ash as the Electrode Material
by Ponnambalam Balamurugan, Marimuthu Uthayakumar, Manickaraj Pethuraj, Dariusz Mierzwiński, Kinga Korniejenko and Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid
Materials 2022, 15(19), 6735; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15196735 - 28 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1319
Abstract
In the current work, several composites made with fly ash reinforcements are used to conduct electrical discharge machining (EDM) on stainless steel that is commercially accessible. Four composites were prepared with 2.5 to 10% reinforcement of fly ash with steps of 2.5%, copper [...] Read more.
In the current work, several composites made with fly ash reinforcements are used to conduct electrical discharge machining (EDM) on stainless steel that is commercially accessible. Four composites were prepared with 2.5 to 10% reinforcement of fly ash with steps of 2.5%, copper is used as the matrix material. The specimens were created using the powder metallurgy method, which involved compaction pressures of 450 MPa and 900 °C for 90 min of sintering. The prepared composites are used as the electrode tool for EDM. EDM studies were carried out at two different current amplitudes (5A and 15A) by maintaining the Pulse on time (100 µs), Pulse off time (50 µs), and the depth of machining as 2 mm. The findings show that the addition of more fly ash to the copper matrix increased the material removal rate when cutting the SS304 plate and had a negative impact on the tool. The composite loses its ability to transfer heat during machining as the level of fly ash increases, raising the temperature in the copper matrix and causing the copper to melt more quickly at the electrode interface during machining, leading to increased electrode wear. While tool life was reduced because of the increase in current amplitude, machinability was enhanced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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18 pages, 5764 KiB  
Article
A New Wire Electrode for Improving the Machining Characteristics of High-Volume Fraction SiCp/Al Composite in WEDM
by Zhi Chen, Hongbing Zhou, Cheng Wu, Guojun Zhang and Hongzhi Yan
Materials 2022, 15(12), 4098; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15124098 - 09 Jun 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1565
Abstract
In wire electrical discharge machining, due to the random distribution of the insulating SiC particles, frequent wire rupture, low machining efficiency and surface quality when the common brass wire electrode (BWE) is used to process high-volume content SiCp/Al composite often appears. To address [...] Read more.
In wire electrical discharge machining, due to the random distribution of the insulating SiC particles, frequent wire rupture, low machining efficiency and surface quality when the common brass wire electrode (BWE) is used to process high-volume content SiCp/Al composite often appears. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new preparation method of zinc coating and surface microstructure on wire electrodes (ZCSMWE). The preparation process of ZCSMWE includes casting, coating, annealing and plastic processing. The experimental results show that, compared with BWE, ZCSMWE can increase material removal rate (MRR) by 16.67%, reduce surface roughness (Ra) by 21.18% and reduce wire rupture under the same discharge parameters. The analysis of workpiece surface topography shows that ZCSMWE can significantly decrease the recast layer and microcrack on the machined surface. The improvement mechanism of ZCSMWE main includes: The low work function zinc can promote the forming of the discharge channel. The vaporization of low boiling temperature zinc can reduce the temperature of the discharge gap and promote the ejecting of workpiece material. In addition, the surface microstructure on ZCSMWE can make the discharge spark more uniformly distributed and increase the proportion of the effective discharge, which contributes to making the discharge crater on the workpiece and wire electrode shallower and more uniform. The surface microstructure on ZCSMWE can also effectively improve the dielectric circulation, which can promote discharge debris to be expelled out and reduce the temperature in the discharge gap. Then, the wire rupture and microcracks on the workpiece surface can be reduced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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14 pages, 5483 KiB  
Communication
Notes on the Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) Machining
by Lucie Gembalová, Libor M. Hlaváč, Sławomir Spadło, Vladan Geryk and Luka Oros
Materials 2021, 14(22), 7032; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14227032 - 19 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1826
Abstract
The aim of the research was to investigate changes of abrasive grains on metals observing the kerf walls produced by the Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ). The microscopy observations of the sidewalls of kerfs cut by the AWJ in several metal materials with an [...] Read more.
The aim of the research was to investigate changes of abrasive grains on metals observing the kerf walls produced by the Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ). The microscopy observations of the sidewalls of kerfs cut by the AWJ in several metal materials with an identical thickness of 10 mm are presented. The observed sizes of abrasive grains were compared with the results of research aimed at the disintegration of the abrasive grains during the mixing process in the cutting head during the injection AWJ creation. Some correlations were discovered and verified. The kerf walls observations show the size of material disintegration caused by the individual abrasive grains and also indicate the size of these grains. One part of this short communication is devoted to a critical look at some of the conclusions of the older published studies, namely regarding the correlation of the number of interacting particles with the acoustic emissions measured on cut materials. The discussion is aimed at the abrasive grain size after the mixing process and changes of this size in the interaction with the target material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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14 pages, 3414 KiB  
Article
Development of Machine Learning Models to Evaluate the Toughness of OPH Alloys
by Omid Khalaj, Moslem Ghobadi, Ehsan Saebnoori, Alireza Zarezadeh, Mohammadreza Shishesaz, Bohuslav Mašek, Ctibor Štadler and Jiří Svoboda
Materials 2021, 14(21), 6713; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14216713 - 08 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1785
Abstract
Oxide Precipitation-Hardened (OPH) alloys are a new generation of Oxide Dispersion-Strengthened (ODS) alloys recently developed by the authors. The mechanical properties of this group of alloys are significantly influenced by the chemical composition and appropriate heat treatment (HT). The main steps in producing [...] Read more.
Oxide Precipitation-Hardened (OPH) alloys are a new generation of Oxide Dispersion-Strengthened (ODS) alloys recently developed by the authors. The mechanical properties of this group of alloys are significantly influenced by the chemical composition and appropriate heat treatment (HT). The main steps in producing OPH alloys consist of mechanical alloying (MA) and consolidation, followed by hot rolling. Toughness was obtained from standard tensile test results for different variants of OPH alloy to understand their mechanical properties. Three machine learning techniques were developed using experimental data to simulate different outcomes. The effectivity of the impact of each parameter on the toughness of OPH alloys is discussed. By using the experimental results performed by the authors, the composition of OPH alloys (Al, Mo, Fe, Cr, Ta, Y, and O), HT conditions, and mechanical alloying (MA) were used to train the models as inputs and toughness was set as the output. The results demonstrated that all three models are suitable for predicting the toughness of OPH alloys, and the models fulfilled all the desired requirements. However, several criteria validated the fact that the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) model results in better conditions and has a better ability to simulate. The mean square error (MSE) for artificial neural networks (ANN), ANFIS, and support vector regression (SVR) models was 459.22, 0.0418, and 651.68 respectively. After performing the sensitivity analysis (SA) an optimized ANFIS model was achieved with a MSE value of 0.003 and demonstrated that HT temperature is the most significant of these parameters, and this acts as a critical rule in training the data sets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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14 pages, 3491 KiB  
Article
Surface Roughness Analysis of H13 Steel during Electrical Discharge Machining Process Using Cu–TiC Sintered Electrode
by Arminder Singh Walia, Vineet Srivastava, Mayank Garg, Nalin Somani, Nitin Kumar Gupta, Chander Prakash, Cherry Bhargava and Ketan Kotecha
Materials 2021, 14(20), 5943; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14205943 - 10 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1767
Abstract
In electrical discharge machining (EDM), the machined surface quality can be affected by the excessive temperature generation during the machining process. To achieve a longer life of the finished part, the machined surface quality plays a key role in maintaining its overall integrity. [...] Read more.
In electrical discharge machining (EDM), the machined surface quality can be affected by the excessive temperature generation during the machining process. To achieve a longer life of the finished part, the machined surface quality plays a key role in maintaining its overall integrity. Surface roughness is an important quality evaluation of a material’s surface that has considerable influence on mechanical performance of the material. Herein, a sintered cermet tooltip with 75% copper and 25% titanium carbide was used as tool electrode for processing H13 steel. The experiments have been performed to investigate the effects of EDM parameters on the machined surface roughness. The findings show that, as the pulse current, pulse length, and pulse interval are increased, the surface roughness tends to rise. The most significant determinant for surface roughness was found to be pulse current. A semi-empirical surface roughness model was created using the characteristics of the EDM technique. Buckingham’s theorem was used to develop a semi-empirical surface roughness prediction model. The semi-empirical model’s predictions were in good agreement with the experimental studies, and the built empirical model based on physical features of the cermet tooltip was tested using dimensional analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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21 pages, 4615 KiB  
Article
Experimental Investigation and Optimization of Electric Discharge Machining Process Parameters Using Grey-Fuzzy-Based Hybrid Techniques
by Ankit Sharma, Vidyapati Kumar, Atul Babbar, Vikas Dhawan, Ketan Kotecha and Chander Prakash
Materials 2021, 14(19), 5820; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14195820 - 05 Oct 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2243
Abstract
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has recently been shown to be one of the most successful unconventional machining methods for meeting the requirements of today’s manufacturing sector by producing complicated curved geometries in a broad variety of contemporary engineering materials. The machining efficiency of [...] Read more.
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has recently been shown to be one of the most successful unconventional machining methods for meeting the requirements of today’s manufacturing sector by producing complicated curved geometries in a broad variety of contemporary engineering materials. The machining efficiency of an EDM process during hexagonal hole formation on pearlitic Spheroidal Graphite (SG) iron 450/12 grade material was examined in this study utilizing peak current (I), pulse-on time (Ton), and inter-electrode gap (IEG) as input parameters. The responses, on the other hand, were the material removal rate (MRR) and overcut. During the experimental trials, the peak current ranged from 32 to 44 A, the pulse-on duration ranged from 30–120 s, and the inter-electrode gap ranged from 0.011 to 0.014 mm. Grey relational analysis (GRA) was interwoven with a fuzzy logic method to optimize the multi-objective technique that was explored in this EDM process. The effect of changing EDM process parameter values on responses was further investigated and statistically analyzed. Additionally, a response graph and response table were produced to determine the best parametric setting based on the calculated grey-fuzzy reasoning grade (GFRG). Furthermore, predictor regression models for response characteristics and GFRG were constructed, and a confirmation test was performed using randomly chosen input parameters to validate the generated models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-conventional Machining of Hard Materials)
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