Mechanism of material removal in electrical discharge diamond grinding

The paper presents the mechanism of material removal in electrical discharge diamond grinding, which integrates electrical discharge machining and diamond grinding for machining electrically conducting hard materials. The role of current and wheel speed on the material removal rate, the grinding forces and power is studied to elucidate the issue. The spark discharges thermally soften the work material in the grinding zone, and consequently decrease the normal force and the grinding power. The improved grinding performance is due to continuous, in-process dressing and declogging of the wheel surface.