Experimental investigation during wire electric discharge cutting of SiCp/6061 aluminum metal matrix composite

Abstract

Aluminum metal matrix composite is a kind of difficult to machine material. In general, it is inefficient if conventional methods are used to machine it, with worse surface quality and serious wear of the cutting tool. In this paper, an attempt is made to machine the 6061 aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) reinforced with silicon carbide particulates (i.e. SiCp/6061 Al) using wire electric discharge machining (WEDM). Wire electric discharge cutting (WEDC) parameters namely servo voltage (SV) and pulse-on time (TON) were varied to study their effect on the quality of cut in SiCp/6061 aluminum MMC using average cutting rate and microstructure of the cut surface as response parameters. The characteristics of the surface produced by WEDC were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).