Intelligent optimization of wire-EDM parameters for surface roughness and material removal rate while machining WC-Co composite

Abstract

This work presents the wire-EDM of WC-Co composite and optimization of process parameters using an integrated technique of response surface methodology (RSM), Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm to obtain the best set of machinability indicators. Wire feed (WF), servo voltage (SV), pulse off-time (Pon) and pulse on-time (Poff) are the variable process parameters, whereas root mean square roughness (Rq), average surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR) are the machinability indicators considered in the present work. A total of twenty nine experiments have been conducted based on Box Behnken design (BBD) technique of response surface methodology. VIKOR has been used for normalization of responses and followed by solving empirical models using ABC algorithm to obtain optimized process parameters setting. WF-12 m/min, SV-65V, Pon-116 µs, Poff-20 µs are the optimum wire-EDM parameters obtained by intelligent RSM-VIKOR-ABC technique that produced best values of Ra-4.51 µm, Rq-5.64 µm, MRR-0.061 mm3 /min simultaneously. The validation test confirmed an improvement up to 15% in the response characteristics which proved the effectiveness of this novel hybrid technique for optimization. The optimum parameter setting is for ready industrial reference to attain best surface quality and process productivity for WC-Co composite machining by wire-EDM.