Abstract:
The Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) Process is
complex in nature partly due to the mechanism of material removal,
and, partly due to the presence of many machining parameters. This
complexity of the EDM process has undermined its full potential
drastically reducing its efficiency. In turn, this has led to relatively
higher consumption of electrical energy, longer machining periods,
higher rate of electrode wear and lower surface quality of the finished
product. Various researchers have used varied approaches with the
aim of optimizing the process.
However, most of these researches have focused on optimization of
one or at most two parameters and have used either fuzzy logic
control techniques or modeling approaches. Others have used purely
predictive and non-realtime approaches. All of these do not offer the
advantage of realtime control of the process.
This paper focuses on experimental work carried out to establish
the effect of capacitance on the EDM process. This is part of an
ongoing research who’s aim is to study the EDM process with a view
to designing a controller that is capable of improving the process’
efficiency by optimizing all the machining parameters in realtime
