Effect of Wire Material on Productivity and Surface Integrity of WEDM-Processed Inconel 706 for Aircraft Application

Inconel 706 is a recently developed superalloy for aircraft application, particularly in turbine disk which is among the most critical components in the gas turbine engines. Recently, wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) attained success in machining of gas turbine components which require complex shape profiles with high precision. To achieve the feasibility in machining of these components, the research work has been conducted on Inconel 706 superalloy using WEDM process. And, the effect of different wire materials (i.e., hard brass wire, diffused wire, and zinc-coated wire) on WEDM performance characteristics such as cutting speed, surface topography, surface roughness, recast layer formation, residual stresses, and microstructural and metallurgical alterations have been investigated. Even though, zinc-coated wire exhibits improved productivity, hard brass wire was found to be beneficial in terms of improved surface quality of the machined parts. Additionally, lower tensile residual stresses were obtained with hard brass wire. However, diffused wire has a moderate effect on productivity and surface quality. Under high discharge energy, higher elemental changes were observed and also the white layer was detected.