Silver and molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles synthesized in situ in dimethylformamide as dielectric for micro-electro discharge machining

The research focuses on the applicability of silver (Ag) and molybdenum disulfide (MOS2) nanoparticle synthesized in situ in dimethylformamide solution as dielectric material for micro-electro discharge machining. Ag nanoparticles (similar to 120nm size) and MOS2 nanoparticles (similar to 20nm size) were synthesized in dimethylformamide solution using a combination of nanoparticle solution synthesis routes. A setup for micro-electro discharge machining was developed in-house with an arrangement to generate spark at varying voltages. The setup was integrated with a precise linear height gauge to measure the spark gap during the experiments where Ag and MOS2 nanoparticles in dimethylformamide solution served as dielectric. The debris was collected and was characterized for each of the experiments. The feature size of the crater generated during the micro-electro discharge machining was also studied. The experiments were repeated with silver and MOS2 nanoparticle powder mixed with dimethylformamide as dielectric. It was observed that in situ prepared nanoparticles in dimethylformamide offered much better machining performance in terms of process stability, crater size and material removal rates. On use of in situ synthesized nanoparticle dielectric, the material removal rate increased by nearly two to three times whereas the spark gap increased by about two times.