An experimental investigation of electro discharge machining parameters effects on ferromagnetic properties of extra-low-carbon steel

•The effect of electro discharge machining (EDM) parameters on the magnetic properties of extra-low-carbon steel has been experimentally extracted, and the optimum levels of the parameters have been determined for optimum magnetic properties.•The results show that the optimum parameter levels for the lowest magnetic coercive force include the pulse-on time of 160 microseconds, pulse-off time of 60 microseconds, 16 Amps current, and 70 Volts gap voltage. Also, for the lowest remanence magnetization, the pulse-on time, pulse-off time, the current, and gap voltage are 50 microseconds, 60 microseconds, 16 Amps, and 90 Volts, respectively.•The optimum parameters for maximum saturation magnetization are 50 microseconds, 90 microsecond, 12 Amps and 80 Volts for the pulse-on time, pulse-off time, the current, and gap voltage respectively. Extra-low-carbon steels are becoming increasingly important for their high magnetic permeability, and reasonable price in industrial applications such as magnetic suspension systems, actuators, and sensors. The application of these steels to the aforementioned parts and industries depends on their magnetic properties. The various manufacturing processes used to make equipment and tools based on this kind of steels affect their magnetic properties. In this study, the effect of electro discharge machining (EDM) parameters on the magnetic properties of extra-low-carbon steel has been experimentally extracted, and the optimum levels of the parameters have been determined for optimum magnetic properties. The selected parameters include pulse-on time, pulse-off time, current, and gap voltage, and the design of experiments was done by the Taguchi method. After machining and preparing the specimens, their hysteresis curves were measured using vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM), and the magnetic properties of the machined extra-low-carbon steels were calculated. The results show that the optimum parameter levels for the lowest magnetic coercive force include the pulse-on time of 160 microseconds, pulse-off time of 60 microseconds, 16 Amps current, and 70 Volts gap voltage. Also, for the lowest remanence magnetization, the pulse-on time, pulse-off time, the current, and gap voltage are 50 microseconds, 60 microseconds, 16 Amps, and 90 Volts, respectively. The optimum parameters for maximum saturation magnetization are 50 microseconds, 90 microsecond, 12 Amps and 80 Volts for the pulse-on time, pulse-off time, the current, and gap voltage