Effect of current on average surface roughness of borosilicate glass at EDM machining and comparison with numerical programs

الملخص EN

Machining of electrically non-conducting materials like glass is still a major problem.

The principle of electric arc was used to generate high electrical discharge (spark) at high currents to machine non-conducting materials at any hardness, which is a new approach.

EDM system was build for machining of non-conducting cutting materials such as glass with new technology including the use of powder (graphite) mixed for dielectric solution (tap water) by supplied AC current values (200, 250, 300, 350 and 400A).

Voltage of (70V) was used to cut 3mm thickness of borosilicate glass (BSG) to obtain the average surface roughness (Ra) of about (0.003-0.012 μm) but the Ra before the machining was (0.005-0.006 μm).

Numerical program called "Simulent" has been used to investigate the process control for EDM by using GN, BPN, PN and VQN that could predict the Ra with accuracies of 94.236, 94.034, 96.628 and 92.875 % respectively from training data sets.

The differences on the Ra at different network models for 3mm thickness of BSG never exceed (8 %) from testing data sets while the comparison of numerical results with experimental results of Ra among the measured values and prediction various network models, shows a differences between (1-8 %).

The best predication accuracy is by the use of PN than other network models.