Micro Electro Discharge Machining of Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT) Nanocomposites

Advanced Composites Letters

Article

Young-Bin Park¹  Yi Wan²  Dave (Dae-Wook) Kim²  Sung-Kwan Joo³ 

[1]High-Performance Materials Institute (HPMI), Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Florida A&M University-Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310-6046, U.S.A.

[2]Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA 98686, U.S.A.

[3]School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, South Korea

关键词: Multi-walled carbon nanotube;    nanocomposites;    micro-EDM;    material removal rate;    hole quality;   

DOI  :  10.1177/096369350801700401

 received in 2008-03-18, accepted in 2008-07-04,  发布年份 2008

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

This study investigated micro electro discharge machining (micro-EDM) of Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposites. PMMA/MWCNT nanocomposites were fabricated using solution casting, in which MWCNTs were dispersed in the polymer-solvent solution via high energy sonication, followed by precipitation and hot pressing. MWCNT loading was varied to investigate the effect of electrical conductivity of nanocomposites on the machinability. Micron-size holes were created to study the material removal mechanism in micro-EDM. The electro discharge phenomena may occur between electrically conductive MWCNT and the tungsten electrode during the process. As a result, PMMA/MWCNT nanocomposite samples with 10 to 35 wt% MWNTs were able to be EDMed with proper machining conditions. It was observed that the material removal rate increases with increasing micro-EDM supply voltage and MWCNT loading on the material system. Both optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to investigate the characteristics of the machined holes and nanocomposite surfaces.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© 2008 SAGE Publications Ltd

【 图 表 】

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