Investigation for the presence of chaos in surface topography generated by EDM

Investigation for the presence of chaos in apparently erratic-looking fluctuations in surface profiles leads to a percipience of the mechanism behind surface generation process. Here, an organized methodology is devised to unveil the dynamics of surface generation in EDM by examining generated surfaces. Sequence of profile heights is considered as time series and inspected using nonlinear time series analytical tools. Both the test for chaos and the test for determinism postulate presence of deterministic chaos in surface topography and thereby in the occurrence of discharges during surface generation by EDM. Further, an entropy based non-dimensional index is introduced to quantify the level of deterministic chaos. The proposed methodology would guide the engineers to correlate a surface and its generation process.