ORIGINAL ARTICLE An experimental investigation on machining parameters of AISI D2 steel using WEDM Vikram Singh 1 & Rakesh Bhandari 1 & Vinod Kumar Yadav 2 Received: 10 July 2015 /Accepted: 27 March 2016 /Published online: 14 April 2016 # Springer-Verlag London 2016 Abstract The performance of the wire electrodischarge machining (WEDM) machining process largely depends upon the selection of the appropriate machining vari- ables. Optimization is one of the techniques used in manufacturing sectors to arrive for the best manufactur- ing conditions, which are essential for industries toward manufacturing of quality products at lowest cost. As there are many process variables involved in the WEDM machining process, it is difficult to choose a proper combination of these process variables in order to maximize material removal rate and to minimize tool wear and surface roughness. The objective of the this work is to investigate the effects of process variables like pulse on time, pulse off time, peak current, servo voltage, and wire feed on material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), gap voltage, gap current, and cutting rate in the WEDM machining process. The ex- periment has been done using Taguchi’ s orthogonal ar- ray L27 (3 5 ). Each experiment was conducted under different conditions of input parameters and statistically evaluated the experimental data by analysis of variance (ANOVA) using MINITAB and Design Expert tools. The present work also aims to develop mathematical models for correlating the inter-relationships of various WEDM machining parameters and performance parame- ters of machining on AISI D2 steel material using re- sponse surface methodology (RSM).The significant ma- chining parameters and the optimal combination levels of machining parameters associated with performance parameters were also drawn. The observed optimal pro- cess parameter settings based on composite desirability (61.4 %) are pulse on time 112.66 μs, pulse off time 45 μs, spark gap voltage 46.95 V, wire feed 2 mm/min, peak current of 99.99 A for achieving maximum MRR, gap current, gap voltage, cutting rate, and minimum SR; finally, the results were experimentally verified. Keywords WEDM . MRR . SR . Pulse on time . Pulse off time . Analysis of variance (ANOVA) . Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio . Response surface methodology (RSM) . Taguchi’ s technique 1 Introduction Wire electrodischarge machining (WEDM) uses electro- thermal mechanism to cut electrically conductive mate- rials. In WEDM, a slow-moving wire travels along a prescribed path and removes material from the work- piece. The material is removed by a series of discrete discharge between the wire electrode and the work piece in the presence of dielectric fluid, which creates a path for each discharge as the fluid become ionized in the gap. The area where a discharge takes place is heated to extremely high temperature so that the surface gets melted and removed. The removed particles get flushed away by the flowing dielectric fluids. The wires for WEDM are generally made of brass, copper, tungsten, * Vikram Singh vikram.mech89@gmail.com Rakesh Bhandari rakesh_itm@yahoo.com Vinod Kumar Yadav vinodcte@yahoo.co.in 1 Sangam University, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India 2 College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2017) 93:203–214 DOI 10.1007/s00170-016-8681-6