COMPARISON OF THERMAL & NON-THERMAL PROCESSES

Thermal Methods of UMP:

These are the widely used and fastest growing sector of unconventional machining methods.

Among these Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) and

Laser Beam Machining (LBM) are very popular. These methods are generally not affected by the physical

properties of the material under process, and thus most suitable

for extremely hard and low machinability work piece materials.

Thermal Methods of UMP:

a) Electric Discharge Machining(EDM)

b) Electron-Beam Machining(EBM)
c) Laser-Beam Machining(LBM) d) Plasma Arc Machining(PAM)

NON-THERMAL PROCESS:
1) Mechanical Energy a) Abrasive Jet Machining(AJM) b) Water-jet machining(WJM) c) Ultrasonic Machining(USM) 2) Chemical Energy a) Chemical Machining(CHM) 3) Electrical Energy a) Electro-chemical Machining(ECM) b) Electro-chemical (Electrolytic) Grinding(ECG)
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COMPARISON OF THERMAL & NON-THERMAL PROCESSES

S.No

Physical Parameters

Thermal Process EDM EBM LBM PAM USM

Non-Thermal Process AJM ECM CHM

Potential, V

45

150000

4500

100

220

220

10

2 3 4

Current, A

50 2700 0.025

0.001 150 100

2 150

500 50000 7.5

12 2400 0.25

1.0 220 0.75

10000 100000 0.2

Power, W
Gap, mm

Medium

Dielectric

Vacuum

Air

Argon or hydrogen

Abrasive in water

Abrasive in gas

Electrolyte

Liquid chemical

APPLICABILITY TO MATERIALS
Thermal Process
S.No

Non-Thermal Process

Materials EDM EBM LBM PAM USM AJM ECM CHM

Aluminium

Fair

Fair

Fair

Good

Poor

Fair

Fair

Good

Steel

Good

Fair

Fair

Good

Fair

Fair

Good

Good

Super alloy

Good

Fair

Fair

Good

Poor

Good

Good

Fair

Titanium

Good

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Refractory material

Good

Good

Poor

Poor

Good

Good

Fair

Poor

Machining characteristics
Machining characteristics Thermal Process EDM EBM LBM PAM USM Non-Thermal Process AJM ECM CHM

S.No

MRR

800

1.6

0.1

75000

300

0.5

15000

15

2 3 4

Tolerance

15 0.2-1.2 125

25 0.5-2.5 250

25 0.5-1.2 125

125 0.5-1.2 500

7.5 0.2-0.5 25

50 0.5-1.2 2.5

50 1.2-2.5 5.0

50 0.5-2.5 50

Surface finish
Depth of surface damage

Power

2700

150

50,0000

2400

250

10,0000

Economics of the processes

Thermal Process EDM EBM LBM PAM USM Non-Thermal Process AJM ECM CHM

S.No

Economic consideration

Capital cost

VL

VL

VH

Tooling cost Power consumption cost MRR Efficiency

VL

VL

VH

VH

VL

Tool wear

VL

VL

VL

VL

VL

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