Performance evaluation of mechanical micro-drilling, electrical discharge machining and laser beam machining on Nimonic 80A alloy

Abstract

Micromachining techniques such as mechanical micro-drilling, electrical discharge machining (EDM) and laser beam machining (LBM) play an important role in the manufacturing of micro-devices used in mechanical, electronics, aerospace and medical applications. In this paper, an effort has been made to compare the performance of these micromachining techniques with regard to tool wear, burr formation and surface integrity. This is done by producing 20 micro-holes of approximately 800 μm diameter on a rectangular block (90×30×3 mm³) of Nimonic 80A superalloy. TiAlN coated WC micro-drills, Cu electrodes and CO₂ laser beam are used to produce these holes in conventional micro-drilling, EDM and LBM, respectively. The quality of the drilled hole (diameter, surface roughness and micro-burr formation), tool diameter analysis, taper angle and material removal rate (MRR) are compared and reported. A comprehensive analysis is also carried out on overcut, which leads to hole inaccuracy. Results show that mechanical micro-drilling produces better results in the above mentioned characteristics in comparison to LBM and EDM techniques. The relatively better performance of mechanical micro-drilling is attributed to the usage of TiAlN coating on WC tool.