Investigation of Ultrasonic Assisted Electro Discharge Machining with TiO2, Al2O3 and ZnO Nano-Powder

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is one of the most important nontraditional manufacturing processes in machining of precise and complex parts made of hard materials. Improvement of its machining operation, due to the application of this method in advanced industries is important. One of the effective methods to improve the efficiency of electrical discharge machining is the addition of powder to the dielectric fluid and usage of ultrasonic Vibrations of electrode. In this paper three Nano-powders, TiO2, Al2O3 and ZnO and ultrasonic vibrations were investigated, and the effects of input parameters including powder type and concentration, pulse-on time and the current on the material removal rate, surface roughness, and tool wear rate were investigated. Based on the results, this method has no significant effect on the tool wear rate but Average material removal rate can be increased up to 30%, So that the mean surface roughness and tool wear rates remain constant. Addition of the ZnO Nono-powder to the dielectric fluid caused the most material removal
rate and surface roughness. Addition of the Al2O3 Nono-powder to the dielectric fluid caused the least surface roughness. In addition, the most material removal rate was obtained at powder concentration equal to 3 g/lit