Study of Electro Discharge Machining of Non-Conductive Ceramic On Alumina & Glass

Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) is very important and prominent machining processamong all the newly developed non -traditional machining techniques. This process isextremely useful for difficult to machine conducting materials such as heat treated toolsteels, composites, super alloys, heat resistant steels, ceramics, carbides, etc. In thistechnique i.e. in EDM, the material removal of the electrode is achieved through highfrequency sparks between the tool and the work-piece immersed into the dielectric. TheMaterial Removal Rate (MRR), Tool Wear Rate (TWR) and surface roughness are some ofthe important performance parameter of EDM process. The objective of EDM is to get highMRR as well as achieving reasonably good surface quality of machined component. Themachining parameters that achieve the highest MRR strongly depend on the size of themachining surface i.e. Electrode used and work-piece surface. With upcoming worldwideimportant applications of Non-Conductive ceramics machining has become an importantissue which needs to be investigated in much detail. The Alumina (Al2O3), Glass and otheradvanced engineering ceramics are rapidly emerging class of engineering materialspossessing a wide range of remarkable properties i.e. high hardness, chemical stability,very low friction, unique electrical properties and these engineering ceramics posses highwear resistance which make them highly suitable for such engineering applications as jetengines and other aeronautical components, tools and dies and electronic sensors.