MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL IN ELECTRICAL-DISCHARGE DIAMOND GRINDING

The paper presents the mechanism of material removal in electrical dis charge diamond grinding, which integrates electrical discharge machini ng and diamond grinding for machining electrically conducting hard mat erials. The role of current and wheel speed on the material removal ra te, the grinding forces and power is studied to elucidate the issue. T he spark discharges thermally soften the work material in the grinding zone, and consequently decrease the normal force and the grinding pow er. The improved grinding performance is due to continuous, in-process dressing and declogging of the wheel surface. Copyright (C) 1996.