A Project Report on

To find solution for breakage of wire during wire cut process

Submitted to ATMIYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES , RAJKOT
As a part of subject in the

Diploma Engineering In Mechanical Engineering.

Submitted by THAKKAR JIGNESH A. (EN.NO = 096030319006) Under the Esteemed guidance of

Prof. ATUL MAKVANA

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ATMIYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES , RAJKOT

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ATMIYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES , RAJKOT

(Approved by AICTE, Affiliated to GTU, Gujarat) Kalavad Road, Rajkot

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the seminar entitled To find solution for breakage of wire during wire cut process is submitted by THAKKAR JIGNESH A. enrolment no 096030319006 in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the diploma Engineering in mechanical Engineering from atmiya institute of technology and science for diploma studies, Rajkot for the academic year 20102011.

Date of Submission: ___________________

Staff In charge Darshan Bhalodiya

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Head Of Department Atul Makvana

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Acknowledgement
It gives me great pleasure to present before you this report on to find solution for breakage of wire during wire cut process. I thank Faculty under whose able guidance I could complete this presentation. I thank all the faculty members of the ATMIYA MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT who were very cooperative and always ready for a helping hand. I rarely find words to express my gratitude towards those who were constantly involved with me during my seminar preparation. Special thanks to my Department In-Charge for giving me this opportunity and giving me the support for the preparation of this seminar. I would like to dedicate this effort to my friends as they were always ready for help whenever I needed them.

THAKKAR JIGNESH A. (096030319006)

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ABSTRACT
The project is to provide the remedies which are faced during CNC wire cut process. Some problems faced during the wire cut process are fluctuation of wire, wire feed rate, speed of wire, selection of wire etc. The remedies for these problems can be sought out by proper setting of wire speed, wire feed, selection of work piece, etc. We also developed the proper selection of wire for different types of work piece. This would help the industries to select the proper wire for the material given to them and thus reducing the wastage of wire and increasing the cutting speed of the CNC wire cut machine.

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CONTENTS
SR. NO. I. II. III. IV. CHAPTER NAME TITLE PAGE COLLEGE CERTIFICATE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT PG. NO. 1 2 3 4

1.

INTRODUCTION 1.1 What is wire EDM machining process? 1.2 Definition

7 7 8 10 10 15 17 17 20 20 20 20 21
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2.

EDM PRINCIPLE 2.1 Principle 2.2 How wire EDM works?

3.

PROBLEM SUMMARY 3.1 Wire breakage

4.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM 4.1 Reason - 1 (Fluctuation of wire) 4.2 Reason - 2 (Wire feed rate) 4.3 Reason - 3 (Over cut) 4.4 Reason - 4 (Speed of wire)

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4.5 Reason - 5 (Selection of wire) 4.6 Reason - 6 (Types of work piece) 4.6.1 Main reason of wire breakage 4.7 Reason - 7 (Dielectric material in work piece) 5. EXPECTED OUTCOME 5.1 Different ways to reduce wire breakage 5.2 For the breakage of wire due to the size of work piece 5.2.1 Solution 5.2.2 Wire feed rate setting 5.2.3 Wire tension setting 5.2.4 Work piece material should be... 5.2.5 Dielectric supply 5.3 Advantages of EDM 6. CONCLUSION 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 8. REFERENCES

21 22 24 24 26 26 27 27 27 27 27 27 28 29 30 31

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is Wire EDM Machining Process?
Electrical discharge machining is a machining method primarily used for hard metals or those that would be very difficult to machine with traditional techniques. EDM typically works with materials that are electrically conductive, although methods for machining insulating ceramics with EDM have also been proposed. EDM can cut intricate contours or cavities in pre-hardened steel without the need for heat treatment to soften and re-harden them. This method can be used with any other metal or metal alloy such as titanium, hastelloy, kovar, and inconel.

Figure - 1.1
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1.2 DEFINITION
Wire EDM machining (Electrical Discharge Machining) is an electro thermal production process in which a thin single-strand metal wire in conjunction with de-ionized water (used to conduct electricity) allows the wire to cut through metal by the use of heat from electrical sparks.

Figure - 1.2

Due to the inherent properties of the process, wire EDM can easily machine complex parts and precision components out of hard conductive materials.

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Figure - 1.3

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2. EDM PRINCIPLE
2.1 Principle
Electric discharge machining (EDM) is a process of repetitive sparking cycles. Graphical representation of sparking cycle is shown below.

Series of Electrical pulses are applied at the Interelectrode gap.

Figure - 2.1

Figure - 2.2

Interelectrode gap voltage Waveform during sparking is as shown above.

Interelectrode gap current waveform during sparking is as shown above.

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Figure - 2.3

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Where ,

TON : Pulse ON period TOFF : Pulse OFF period Td : Spark initiation period (Ignition delay) Vp : Open gap voltage Vg : Average gap voltage Ip : Machining peak current

Figure - 2.4

A series of electrical pulses generated by the pulse generator unit is applied between the workpiece and the traveling wire electrode. In the event of spark discharge, there is a flow of current across the wire electrode - workpiece gap. The energy content of a single spark discharge can be expressed as a product
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of TON x IP. Energy contained in a tiny spark discharge removes a fraction of workpiece material. Large number of such time spaced tiny discharges between the workpiece and wire electrode causes the electro-erosion of the work piece material.

CNC wire-cut EDM machine

Figure - 2.5

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In wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM), also known as wire-cut EDM and wire cutting, a thin single-strand metal wire, usually brass, is fed through the workpiece, submerged in a tank of dielectric fluid, typically deionized water. Wire-cut EDM is typically used to cut plates as thick as 300mm and to make punches, tools, and dies from hard metals that are difficult to machine with other methods. The wire, which is constantly fed from a spool, is held between upper and lower diamond guides. The guides, usually CNC-controlled, move in the x y plane. On most machines, the upper guide can also move independently in the zuv axis, giving rise to the ability to cut tapered and transitioning shapes (circle on the bottom square at the top for example). The upper and lower diamond guides are usually accurate to 0.004 mm, and can have a cutting path or kerf as small as 0.12 mm using 0.1 mm wire, though the average cutting kerf that achieves the best economic cost and machining time is 0.335 mm using 0.25 brass wire. The reason that the cutting width is greater than the width of the wire is because sparking occurs from the sides of the wire to the work piece, causing erosion. This "overcut" is necessary, for many applications it is adequately predictable and therefore can be compensated for (for instance in micro-EDM this is not often the case). Spools of wire are longan 8 kg spool of 0.25 mm wire is just over 19 kilometers in length. Wire diameter can be as small as 20 micrometres and the geometry precision is not far from +/- 1 micrometer.

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Figure - 2.6

The wire-cut process uses water as its dielectric fluid, controlling its resistivity and other electrical properties with filters and de-ionizer units. The water flushes the cut debris away from the cutting zone. Flushing is an important factor in determining the maximum feed rate for a given material thickness. Along with tighter tolerances, multiaxis EDM wire-cutting machining center have added features such as multiheads for cutting two parts at the same time, controls for preventing wire breakage, automatic self-threading features in case of wire breakage, and programmable machining strategies to optimize the operation.

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Figure - 2.7

Wire-cutting EDM is commonly used when low residual stresses are desired, because it does not require high cutting forces for removal of material. If the energy/power per pulse is relatively low (as in finishing operations), little change in the mechanical properties of a material is expected due to these low residual stresses, although material that hasn't been stress-relieved can distort in the machining process. The work piece may undergo a significant thermal cycle, its severity depending on the technological parameters used. Such thermal cycles may cause formation of a recast layer on the part and residual tensile stresses on the work piece.

2.2 How wire EDM works?

Wire EDM machining (also known as "spark EDM") works by creating an electrical discharge between the wire or electrode, & the workpiece. As the spark jumps across the gap, material is removed from both the workpiece & the electrode.

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Figure - 2.8

To stop the sparking process from shorting out, a non conductive fluid or dielectric is also applied. The waste material is removed by the dielectric, and the process continues.

Figure - 2.9

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3. PROBLEM SUMMARY
3.1 WIRE BREAKAGE :
There are lot of causes for wire breakage. The location of the wire breakage provides important clues to find the probable cause.

Figure - 3.1
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The above line diagram shows the area where the breakage of wire occurs generally during the wire cutting process. In the figure the numbers indicated refers to the wire breakage positions and they are explained in the table below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wire Breakage

Check

Causes and Remedies Position

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Wire Outlet Side Wire Tension - Reduce the wire tension Slightly -The movement of the tension roller should be smooth. - Check for any groove formation on the pressure roller. Change if the wire gets trapped completely into the groove

2. Wire Outlet Side

Wire feed Rate Wire drive mechanism

- The wire after sparking has become weak due to wear. Increase the feed. - Disturbed wire feed causes wire breakage or produces Vertical streaks over the machined surface. This may be due to Copper deposits or foreign particle got stuck in the wire guide. Clean the guide. - Movement of lower roller is not smooth. Change the bearing of the roller. - Feed spool brake which prevents over travel of spool, is not properly set. Set it right.

Machining Condition

- Setting of TON is too high, increasing electrode wear - WF is too low, Set as per the Technology Chart & trim if required.

Flushing
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- Water column must wrap the sides of the wire at

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the energizing current pickups. Clean the lower flushing nozzle. 3. Inside of machining gap Dielectric water - Excessive injection pressure causes water dielectric to escape or mix with air, thus developing aerial discharge. Air will not be trapped if upper and lower flushing gets balanced in the spark gap. Adjust Flushing. Wire - Twisted or bent wire will develop discharge concentration that causes wire breakage. - Wire position towards the end of winding is liable to snap. 4. Inlet of Upper flushing assly. Flushing - Upper flushing set inadequately. - Twisted or bent wire. Set properly.

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4. DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM

4.1 Reason - 1 (Fluctuation of wire)

Fluctuation of wire tension have great effect upon stability of working situation. Reasons of fluctuation, the tensions of running wire on the wire drum in positive and negative direction are different; Length of wire will extend after long time work, it makes wire tension go down, regularly, ideal tension would be 12-15N, when wire tension goes down, vibration is getting worse, and wire is easy to break.

4.2 Reason - 2 (Wire feed rate)

Due to spark erosion, the traveling wire-electrode becomes thin and brittle. Wire feed is the rate at which the wire-electrode travels along the wire guide path. It is always desirable to set the wire feed to a higher value. This will result in less wire breakage, better machining stability, and slightly more cutting speed. With wire feed set at 8 m/min, on an average a 0.25 mm dia. brass wire spool of 5 kg will last for about 24 hours.

4.3 Reason - 3 (Over cut)

It is the lateral distance between the wire and workpiece during the sparking. Overcut is larger if - gap voltage is higher - discharge energy is higher - wire tension is lower - guide span is higher - job thickness is higher - dielectric conductivity is higher - machining is unstable
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4.4 Reason - 4 (Speed of wire)

With wire running speed goes up, within a particular range, cutting speed goes up too. At the same time, higher running speed will be helpful for working solution enter workpiece with large thickness, go deep into the electric discharging gap, and helpful for removing metal chip and stability of electric discharging. But, more haste less speed, if wire running speed is too high, molybdenum wire would shake and vibrate badly, on the contrary, machining situation will get instable, and machining speed goes down accordingly, furthermore, accuracy and surface finish is getting worse. and wire is easy to break. But, running speed cant be too low, or the wire wear will be higher, and wire is also easy to break, there should be balance, according to experience, ideal speed will be less then 11m/s.

4.5 Reason-5 (Selection of wire)

Choice of electrode wire is consist of diameter and type. Normally, material used for electrical discharging should have good conductivity, strong tensile strength, good electric corrosion resistance. The wire wont bend and knot. Regular used wires are molybdenum wire, tungsten wire, tungsten-molybdenum wire,brass wire, copper-tungsten wire and etc.., Among the, especially molybdenum wire and brass wire are widely used. Using tungsten wire will get higher machining speed, but after electric discharging, tungsten will wire turn fragile and easy to break, so no much application. Sometimes, it is used on CNC low speed with low wire feed speed and low power. Molybdenum wire has lower melting-point and lower tensile strength(to tungsten), but it has good tenacity, under frequent rapid heating and rapid cooling exchanging, molybdenum wont go fragile and break, so, although some features are not as good as Tungsten, still molybdenum wire is one of widely used electrode wires.

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Figure - 4.1

Figure - 4.2

Figure - 4.3

Tungsten-molybdenum wire, 50% tungsten and 50% molybdenum, this kind alloyed wire has longer life and faster machining speed than molybdenum wire, but cost is very high accordingly. Using brass wire will get fastest machining speed(as copper can bear high electric current) and stable machining process, but its tensile strength is not good and ware is very big, so it is normally used on CNC low speed feed wire cut EDM machine.

4.6 Reason-6 (Types of work piece)

Wire is easy to break when machine thin workpiece When talking about thin workpiece, it means workpiece with thickness less than 3mm. Reason of wire broken under this situation: the distance between up and down guide pulley is
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fixed, regularly around 70mm, while cutting thin workpiece with high wire running speed, wire is easy to vibrate.

Figure - 4.4

Figure - 4.5
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Normally, for CNC wire cut EDM machine, work pieces with thickness larger than 100mm are called large thickness workpiece. Wire broken may happen at the moment that spark appears, during cutting process, and when cutting is about to finish. 4.6.1 Main reason of wire breakage when cut large thickness work piece : 1. Wire break when start to cut, molybdenum wire feed forward and touch work piece, then it break. When molybdenum wire is outside of workpiece, the distance between up and down guide pulley is pretty big, molybdenum wire vibrate because there is no damping exist. It makes the gap between wire and workpiece is under bad situation, or there are too much cooling liquid, these factors reduce insulation resistance, under such kind situation, arc discharging will appear during electric discharging, arc discharging will burn molybdenum. For wire cut EDM machining, arc discharging is one of main reasons causes wire broken. And the bigger electric current is used, the more burned harm will happen to the wire, and it is much more probable for wire to break. 2. During cutting process. When wire cut deep in to workpiece, gap between wire and workpiece is too small to allow cooling liquid to get into workpiece. The carbon black and metal chip are not easy to be flushed out of workpiece. Such situation is getting working condition worse and worse. Just cutting thin workpiece, the gap is not stable and arc discharging is easy to happen, if arc discharging concentrate at a special area, it may burn molybdenum wire to break. 3. Wire break when cutting is about to finish. When there is still tiny distance left to cut. Except reason discussed above, weight of workpiece is also a very important reason for such kind wire broken, workpiece may deform due to stress, and workpiece break wire. Solution is to make special fixture and workpiece have to be heat treated.

4.7 Reason-7 (Dielectric material in work piece)

There is some dielectric material inside of workpiece, everything looks normal from outside, but suddenly, short circuit happens; It doesnt work no matter whatever we try. It is likely some impurities in the workpiece while forging or stamping, these impurities is not conductive, and make short circuit happen, and break the wire finally. It is advised to use good quality material, or enlarge cooling liquid to flush impurities.
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Figure - 4.7

Figure - 4.8

Normally, material processed by wire cut EDM had already been machined by grinding machine in advance, according to normal technology, material need to be demagnetized after grinding. If on demagnetization, metal chips of wire EDM cutting will absorb in the wall of gap, especially for large thickness cutting. Demagnetization will make cutting feed is not even, and worse surface quality, short circuit and wire broken. For auto-centering of wire cut EDM, if surface of workpiece is not clean, and there is some oil, burr, dielectric material. When molybdenum wire feed to wall and havent started to discharge, but machine cant change direction automatically, workpiece will bend wire and break it eventually. So it is advised to clean workpiece before cutting.

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5. EXPECTED OUTCOME
5.1 Different ways to reduce wire breakage:1. Make sure producing accuracy of wire drum and guides, control the axial and radial jumping of wire drum and guides,the turning of guides should be flexible and smooth, it will reduce vibration of guides to realize stability of machining. 2. Lower wire running speed if necessary, it will get stability of wire running, especially when it change direction. 3. According to characterize of wire cut EDM machining, the high speed running wire change direction frequently, the tension of wire could change rapidly at the moment while changing direction, it will lead to vibration of wire, and affect surface quality accordingly, so it is better to reduce times of changing direction. Proved by experiment, when machining conditions are same, prolong effective length of machining wire and times of changing direction,will reduce vibration of wire to improve machining stability and surface quality. 4. Make sure tight the wire evenly and smooth to avoid different tension of wire at different position, as if tension is variable to different position, the wire is easy to vibrate. 5. To adjustable wire frame, it is better to reduce the length of frame according to height of workpiece. If span is too big, molybdenum wire will vibrate; if span is too small, cooling solution is not easy to enter workpiece. Take cutting 40mm thick workpiece for instance, span of wire frame could be 5060mm, distance of up and down nozzles to workpiece could be 6-10mm, this way, molybdenum will have better rigidity, avoid vibration. 6. Workpiece feed speed must be suitable, as during cutting, if feed to fast, it doesnt have enough time to remove metal chips, this way, it is easy to happen short circuit, make cutting is not stable;of course, if workpiece feed with lower speed, machining efficiency would be lower too.

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5.2 For the breakage of wire due to size of workpiece:

5.2.1 Solution :
Adjust machining voltage to around 50V; adjust machining electric current to around 0.3A, adjust frequency width to less than 10m; reduce vibration of molybdenum wire, for example drive wire drum with DC motor, lower RPM of motor; if drive by AC motor, lower phase voltage by connecting resistance in random two phases in series, nowadays, wire drum is controlled by inverter, it can change direction smoothly with low speed; increase the thickness of workpiece by cutting many workpiece together or cushioning other parts. 5.2.2 Wire Feed rate setting. This is a feed rate at which the fresh wire is fed continuously for sparking. Range : 01 - 10 Higher values of wire feed rate (above 5) are required for working with higher pulse power where the job cutting rates are higher. 5.2.3 Wire Tension setting. This is a gram-equivalent load with which the continuously fed wire is kept under tension so that it remains straight between the wire guides. Wire tension can be adjusted by the wheel provided on machine column. While the wire is being fed continuously, appropriate Wire tension prevents the undesirable wire deflection from its straight path (between the wire guides). The wire deflection is caused due to spark induced reaction forces and water pressure. 5.2.4 Work piece material should be... - Electrically conductive ( at least 0.1 micro-ohm/cm ) - Suitable for clamping. - Non-combustible. - Nonviolent chemical reactions with Water, Oxygen, Hydrogen. 5.2.5 Dielectric Supply While the machining is continued, the machining zone is continuously flushed with water passing through the nozzles on both sides of the workpiece. The spark discharge across the workpiece - wire electrodes causes ionization of the water which is used as a dielectric medium.
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It is important to note that ionization of water leads to the increase in water conductivity. It is advisable to change the water after 50 sparking hours to maintain the conductivity within the required range.

5.3 Advantages of EDM :

Complex shapes that would otherwise be difficult to produce with conventional cutting tools Extremely hard material to very close tolerances Very small work pieces where conventional cutting tools may damage the part from excess cutting tool pressure. There is no direct contact between tool and work piece. Therefore delicate sections and weak materials can be machined without any distortion. A good surface finish can be obtained. Very fine holes can be easily drilled.

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6. CONCLUSION
While performing this work, we learned about the various problems faced by industries during wire cut machining process and we found some remedies to solve the problem. With the help of some of our colleagues and our efforts the remedies which we found would help the industries to reduce their wastage of time and money and help them to increase their annual turnover.

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7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Electrical Technology- Vol. II, By B.L.Theraja Manufacturing Engineering and Technology, By Kalpakjian; Addison-Wesley Publishing Co Workshop Technology Vol. II, By Hajra & Choudhari. Manufacturing Processes, By O.P. Khanna. Processes and Materials of Manufacture, By Lindberg Roy A.; Prentice-Hall India

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8. REFERENCES

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

www.bmedm.com www.wikipedia.com www.howstuffwork.com www.machinetoolhelp.com www.thegreenbook.com

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