The machining parameter design using fuzzy theory in electrical discharge machining drill

Electric discharge machining drill (EDM-drill) is a process to machine fine holes. EDM-drill is specially used for drilling of difficult-to-cut materials such as high-strength steel, titanium and cemented carbide processing. The machining parameters of EDM-drill include voltage, PWM (pulse width modulation), machining speed, discharge capability, flushing rate, etc. These machining parameters affect the accuracy of the work-piece, the wear consumption of electrodes, surface roughness and machining time. As there are many machining parameters and machined results of work-pieces, it is difficult to establish the relations between the machining parameters and the results. A fuzzy system is presented to predict the relations. The machining parameters and results are normalized using the principal component analysis (PCA) and expressed as membership function (MF). Fuzzy rules are created by fuzzy rule-base which from MF and fuzzy inference is carried out. By this method, it is possible to obtain reasonably the machining parameters, which is necessary for the required machined results. On other hands, the machined results can also be predicted with the given machining parameters. The proposed fuzzy system is implemented using MATLAB. Actual experiments and Fuzzy inference are carried out in same machining conditions and the results are compared.