Modified Flower Pollination Algorithm to Optimize WEDM parameters while Machining Inconel-690 alloy

Abstract Flower Pollination algorithm (FPA) is one of the global optimization algorithms and was found to outperform genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. In order to improve the performance of existing FP algorithm, a modified FPA has been proposed in the present work. Further, super alloys are finding wide range of applications including power generation turbines, aircraft, nuclear power, automobiles, rocket engines, and chemical processing plants. These materials exhibit superior mechanical and chemical properties. They are found to retain hardness at elevated temperatures, be resistant to corrosion and have low thermal conductivity. Machining of these alloys with conventional processes is very difficult. Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is one of the modern machining techniques and it can machine materials, irrespective of their hardness, as it is a non-contact machining process. Inconel-690, one of the nickel-based alloys is widely used in nuclear power and aerospace applications. The influence of WEDM process parameters such as pulse on time, pulse off time, peak current and servo voltage on responses such as material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) has been studied while machining Inconel-690. Mathematical models are developed to predict these responses. The proposed modified FPA has been used to optimize WEDM process parameters. Further, this method has also been applied for simultaneous optimization of the responses. As the current method is found to yield encouraging results, it can be extended to solve other optimization problems also.