Effect Of Input Parameters On The Key Machinability Aspects Of Nitinol During Wedm

Shape memory alloy (SMA), a distinctive class of material, can possess its preceding form when subjected to definite thermo-mechanical energy. Nitinol, an SMA, having an admirable shape memory effect, super elastic, and biomechanical properties, has developed a vast application in the field of biomedical, automobile, robotics, aerospace, etc. Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) technique is employed for machining of electrically conductive materials like SMAs, high tech ceramics, smart materials, etc. This paper is focused on analyzing the effect of different significant input parameters on the vital machinability aspects of SMA nitinol during WEDM. Independent input variables like pulse-on time (TON), discharge current (I), wire-speed (WS), wire tension (WT) and flushing pressure (FP) were considered to find out their influence on the kerf width (KW), material removal rate (MRR), arithmetic mean roughness (Ra), and microhardness (μh). 3D optical profile, X-ray diffraction analysis, and scanning electron microscopy were also executed on the WEDMed surface to inspect the surface, microstructure, and phase changes in the machined surface. It was detected that I, TON and FP were more influential than WT and WS for most of the responses.