Investigation of EDM characteristics of nickel-based heat resistant alloy

The EDM processing characteristics of one of the nickel-based heat resistant alloys, Hast-elloy-X, were investigated under the various EDM conditions and analyzed in terms of surface integrity. This alloy is commonly used as a material for the hot gas path component of gas turbines and it is difficult to machine by conventional machining methods. The primary EDM parameter which was varied in this study were the pulse-on time. Since the pulse-on time is one of the main factors that determines the intensity of the electrical discharge energy, it was expected that the machining ratio and the surface integrity of the specimens would be proportionally dependent on the pulse-on duration. However, experimental results showed that MRR (material removal rate) and EWR (electrode wear rate) behaved nonlinearly with respect to the pulse duration, whereas the morphological and metallurgical features showed rather a constant trend of change by the pulse duration. In addition the heat treating process affected the recast layer and HAZ to be recrystallized but softening occurred in recast layer only. A metallurgical evaluation of the microstructure for the altered material zone was also conducted.