Optimization of the cutting speed for Ti-6Al-4V using WEDM depending on quality of the machined surface

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is an unconventional technology of machining that applies physical principles for material removal. To ensure efficient machining, it is appropriate to have the cutting speed as high as possible; however, the quality of the surface to be machined shall also be taken into account. Since the cutting speed cannot be directly set on the machine, but depends on the setting of individual machine parameters, an experiment was designed to find optimum values of individual parameters to maximize the cutting speed. The examined parameters included: gap voltage, pulse on time, pulse off time, wire speed and discharge current. In addition, the study dealt with the evaluation of morphology and quality of the surfaces of machined samples manufactured at the highest and the lowest speed using a contactless profilometer based on the principle of coherence correlation interferometry.