518 Int. J. Productivity and Quality Management, Vol. 29, No. 4, 2020
Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Performance study of eco-friendly dielectric in EDM
of AISI 2507 super duplex steel using Taguchi-fuzzy
TOPSIS approach
V. Srinivas Viswanth*, R. Ramanujam and
G. Rajyalakshmi
School of Mechanical Engineering,
VIT University,
Vellore, 632014, India
Email: srinivas.viswanthv2012@vit.ac.in
Email: ramanujam.r@vit.ac.in
Email: rajalakshmi@vit.ac.in
*Corresponding author
Abstract: In the present study, the application of Pongamia natural ester as a
renewable green dielectric (GD) applied in the electric discharge machining
(EDM) of AISI 2507 super duplex steel. This investigation aims to study the
effect of Pongamia green dielectric in the EDM process. The major process
variables such as pulse-on time (T
ON
), pulse-off time (T
OFF
), peak current
(I
P
), voltage (v) and inter-electrode gap (IEG) on performance measures
like material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and surface
roughness (SR). The Taguchi’s orthogonal array (OA) L
27
has been selected for
this experimentation. The choice of optimal input parameter settings that
are attained by multi-response optimisation of performance measures using
Taguchi-fuzzy-TOPSIS technique is T
ON
= 500 µs, T
OFF
= 30 µs, I
P
= 15 A,
v = 40 V and IEG = 180 µm. The optimal settings have increased the
productivity aspects by the four decision makers (DM) order priorities. The
optimised results, shown the improvement in MRR with the minimised
EWR and SR. The optimal settings of the process for improved machining
responses were identified by Taguchi’s response graph and analysis of variance
(ANOVA). The recast layer and micrographs were examined utilising scanning
electron microscopy (SEM).
Keywords: electric discharge machining; EDM; green dielectric; electrode
wear rate; EWR; surface roughness; SR; Taguchi; productivity; fuzzy-TOPSIS;
material removal rate; MRR.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Viswanth, V.S.,
Ramanujam, R. and Rajyalakshmi, G. (2020) ‘Performance study of
eco-friendly dielectric in EDM of AISI 2507 super duplex steel using
Taguchi-fuzzy TOPSIS approach’, Int. J. Productivity and Quality
Management, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp.518–541.
Biographical notes: V. Srinivas Viswanth is a full time Research Scholar
at the School of Mechanical Engineering (SMEC), Vellore Institute of
Technology (VIT) University, Vellore. He received his BTech and MTech
from the Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi and Visveswaraya National
Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur in 2006 and 2009, respectively. His
research work is in the field of optimisation techniques and unconventional
machining processes.