Machinability investigation using Cu-mixed biodegradable dielectric for eco-friendly/sustainable machining of Ni-based superalloy

The technological advancements in the manufacturing industries frequently require the precise machining of hard-to-cut materials with a high degree of accuracy, especially for Ni-based superalloys. The applications and attributes of the said materials’ category justify the use of the electric discharge machining (EDM) process. However, there is a strong need to make this process sustainable and eco-friendly considering the rapid scarcity of resources. Since the conventional dielectric (say kerosene) used in EDM poses serious health concerns and fails in terms of sustainable production specifically in EDM of Inconel (IN) 600. At present, no significant work is available on the experimental investigation in EDM of IN600 by varying powder concentration (Cp: 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5) g/100 ml and electrode type (ET: Al, brass, Cu, and graphite) using biodegradable dielectric to study the machining performance in four different aspects. For instance, material removal rate (MRR) accounts for the productivity aspect, specific energy consumption (SEC) determines the power consumed, electrode wear rate (EWR) depicts the cost consideration, and surface roughness (SR) represents the quality perspective. The responses defined herein explicitly help to ensure sustainable production. A percent improvement of 12.75% in MRR was found in comparison to the published work in EDM of IN600 using kerosene dielectric. It has also been revealed that the addition of Cu powder in the concentration of 1.5 g/100 ml has raised the MRR to 25.53%. The electrode of graphite has proved to be the best choice for all the defined responses considering the sustainable production of IN600. The optimal settings have been developed and validated that warrant an increase of 11.79% in MRR along with a reduction in SEC (4.23%), EWR (6.935%), and SR (7.20%), respectively. As a result, the cumulative effect of all the said measures leads to a more sustainable manufacturing system.