Investigations on power consumption in WEDM of EN31 steel for sustainable production

Minimizing power consumption without compromising the quality of the product has become a challenging task in the manufacturing industries. In this line, the current research presents an exciting work to establish a fundamental understanding of the influence of wire electrode discharge machining (WEDM) parameters on productivity and energy efficiency at industrial scale. For the experimental investigations, WEDM parameters such as servo voltage, pulse on-time, wire feed, and wire tension were selected to machine EN31 alloy steel using 0.25-mm brass-coated wire as an electrode. Material removal rate (MRR) and power consumption that reflect economic and environmental aspects are considered as response parameters. Real-time power consumption measurements were captured for every second during the machining process, and an average of all these measurements was considered for analysis. It has been observed that the MRR and power consumption increases with an increase in pulse on-time and decreases with an increase in servo voltage. Wire tension has shown no major effect on power consumption but increases the MRR. Wire feed, on the other hand, had varied effects on both the response parameters.