Analysis and Prediction of Electrical Discharge Coating Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

Surface modification through electric discharge coating (EDC), a common feature of EDM machine, was done with the use of green compact electrode at negative polarity that builds a layer on the workpiece. Green compact sintered electrodes were prepared from the mixture made up of tungsten (WS2) and copper (Cu) powder in different proportions. In this study, effect of input experimental parameters (duty factor, peak current, and powder mixing ratio) on output parameters (tool wear rate, mass transfer rate, microhardness, and coating thickness) was observed. From FESEM and EDS results, a good coating feature was detected on the top coating with coating material presence. The artificial neural network was applied for prediction of output parameters response. The experimental results and predicted results using the artificial neural network (ANN) showed good agreement. There was a good agreement observed in regression and performance plot between actual experimental results and ANN predicted results.