Selection of EDM Die Sinking Optimal Condition of Machine AISI L3 Tool Steel Material Using Ant Colony Optimization

Abstrak

The leading use of tool steel material as cutting tool material because
of its good qualities and economical in the production line. Besides, the
common use of EDM Die Sinking of machine tool steel material makes
machining preferred by the industry. Therefore, a study that correlates
input-output parameters of EDM Die Sinking is urged to estimate the
good quality machined tool steel workpiece such as an optimization
study. This study estimates the good qualities as the outputs, with the
benefit of knowing the machining parameters. Therefore, this paper
aims to optimize EDM Die Sinking input parameters by using the Ant
Colony Optimization algorithm, an approach based on soft computing.
This paper’s step begins with experimental data and mathematical
model application, then running the algorithm to gain the minimum
outputs and optimized inputs, and ends with evaluation and validation.
The selected input parameters are Current, Pulse on time, and Pulse
off time; and the outputs are Material Removal Rate, Electrode Wear
Rate, and Surface Roughness. The comparative study is made based
on other references, and the result finds that the proposed approach
outperforms the result by 3D Response Surface, Tabu Search, Genetic
Algorithm, and Particle Swarm Optimizations approaches applied in
previous studies. Moreover, the predicted optimized input parameters
suggest more economical production expenses, by running at a lower
rate of current supply for having better outputs.