Analysis of hole quality characteristics in the electro jet drilling process

The modern trend towards miniaturization has given a new impetus to the development of nontraditional small hole drilling techniques. Electro jet drilling (EJD) is one such promising technique, which is finding ever-increasing applications in several industries including aerospace, medical, automobile and microfabrication (electronic and computers). This paper reports experimental findings on the effects of important process parameters such as applied voltage, capillary outside diameter, feed rate, electrolyte concentration and inlet electrolyte pressure on the productivity and the quality of small holes (<800 μm dia) produced by using the EJD process. Roundness error and surface roughness have been used as the response parameters for evaluating the quality of hole whereas material removal rate has been used as the response parameter for evaluating the process productivity. The experiments were performed on SUPERNI 263A material. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed to test the significance of the variables at the 5% level indicates that applied voltage and electrolyte concentration significantly affect the response parameters.