Experimental Investigation of Eco-Friendly Vegetable Oil as Dielectric Fluid in Electrical Discharge Machining

Abstract

Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) is used to machine complex geometries on hard to difficult material. In this investigation, vegetable oil based dielectric fluids are used and their performance is compared with conventional dielectric fluid during the machining of Inconel 800. Two different categories of dielectrics such as vegetable oil (sunflower, canola and jatropha) and hydrocarbon oil (kerosene) are used. Three set of energy settings are used during the process to analyze the Material Removal Rate (MRR) and Tool Wear Rate (TWR). The result showed that vegetable oil based dielectric fluid showed higher MRR than conventional dielectric fluid. Also, the result of TWR is observed as higher than conventional dielectric fluid. Further studies are required to understand high TWR using vegetable oil as dielectric. This work concludes vegetable oils that are similar in dielectric properties could be used as dielectric fluid.