AFM surface investigation of Inconel 825 with multi wall carbon nano tube in electrical discharge machining process using Taguchi analysis

Demand for better surface finish has been increasing recently for super alloys. Carbon nano tube (CNT) is mixed with dielectric fluid in EDM process because of high thermal conductivity. The analysis of surface characteristics like surface roughness, micro cracks of Inconel-825 is carried out and an excellent machined nano finish can be obtained by setting the machining parameters at optimum level. The Taguchi design of experimental technique is used to optimize the machining parameters and an L9 orthogonal array is selected. The predicted surface roughness was estimated using S/N ratio and compared with actual values. ANOVA analysis is used for finding the significant factors affecting the machining process in order to improve the surface characteristics of Inconel-825 material. Taguchi design of experiments were used to identify the best experiment which optimize the surface roughness to nano level and meet the demand of high surface finish and accuracy to great extent. AFM analysis using CNT improves the surface characteristics like surface morphology, surface roughness and micro cracks from micro level to nano level. The regression analysis are used to predict the error between actual and regression values of surface roughness using carbon nano tube as dielectric fluid in EDM process.