Papers by Author: Chih Kang Chang

Abstract: Suspending powder in dielectric fluid of EDM (electrical discharge machining) has been developed to improve the quality of machined surface recently. The used powders are usually Al, Cu, Cr and so on metal powder because conductive particle can increase the spark gap and improve surface roughness of machined surface. Semi-conductive powder, Si is also utilized for the sake of increasing machining speed. This paper presents a new tryout to suspend polymer particles in the dielectric fluid of EDM. Experimental results show that the EDM process with suspending polymer particles still can be carried out but its surface roughness is not so good in conventional EDM oil. However the conventional EDM oil was taken the replace of silicone oil, suspending polyaniline (PANI-emer) of high molecular weight (Mw~65000) has finer improvement even better than using Si powder. Its surface roughness achieves less than Ra 0.2μm at low concentration and will be decreased gradually with increasing the concentration of PANI-emer (Mw~65000). The surface roughness is Ra 0.14μm when the powders concentration is 10g/l. Even for different type of polyaniline shows different machining characteristics. The surfaces roughness becomes worse when the concentration of low molecular weight PANI-emer (Mw~20000) is higher. An electric-conductive PANI-salt powder has a rapid decrease of surface roughness with increasing its concentration than other materials.

Abstract: Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is an excellent technology to machining die and mold, but it is uneasy to obtain mirror-like surface. Powder-Mixed dielectric electrical discharge machining (PMD-EDM) is the innovative technology of EDM process, which can improve the quality of machined surface and applied in EDM finish machining now. The powder is usually hard particles, such as Al, Cu, Cr and Si in PMD-EDM. This paper presents a new research of PMD-EDM with suspending soft particles and abrasive grits in the dielectric fluid, especially focus on surface roughness. Experimental result shows the EDM process with polymer particles and abrasive grits can be carried out in silicone oil and the surface roughness has the finer improvement when increasing the rotation speed. Also, the effect of hard particles suspending in dielectric fluid are also discussed and compared. The surface roughness using polymer particles and abrasive in specific condition was better than only hard particles in silicone oil. Moreover, mixing abrasive and polymer in EDM can perform the polishing process.

Abstract: The slag from steel plants or incinerators was tried to be recycled and be reused as foam materials through plasma arc melting. The study was intended to investigate the making of foam slag with laboratory plasma melting facilities. The investigated materials consisted of different mixtures of Al2O3、SiO2 、FetO、CaO and Na2O, with the fluxes that were necessary to examine the capability of pore-formation in the solidified ingots. It has been found that the foam slag could be obtained with the proper compositions and conditions of arc heating. The dimensions and distributions of pores were studied and correlated with the temperatures and compositions of slag. The results showed that the sizes of pores inside the solidified ingots were in the range of 1~5 mm, and the thickness of slag was around 20 mm. As to the distributions of the pores in the ingots of slag, further improvement would be needed in the future.