A Case Study on the Use of Box-Behnken Design to Improve an Electrical Discharge Machining

Abstract

This study presents the usefulness of response surface methodology (RSM) in die-sinking electrical discharge machining (EDM) process improvement. Conventional research on this process has been focused on the single-electrode method, but the industry practitioners prefer adopting the two-electrode method, one for the roughing and the other for the finishing stages, using a single discharge step. We propose a multiple discharge step (MDS) method that uses three discharge currents at each stage. RSM is employed to optimize the discharge conditions. Experimentally, the MDS method combined with RSM improves electrode edge wear and surface roughness.