Investigation of pre-dressing time for ELID grinding technique

Abstract

The grinding wheel topography and the macroscopic wheel shape generated by truing and dressing are one of the major concerns of the manufacturers of high accuracy component parts. Decreasing the dressing time is always desirable as it may reduce the processing time and production costs. A new dressing technique—electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID)—has attracted special interest recently because eliminates the conventional dressing times while it increases the ground surface quality. The primary purpose of the ELID is the generation or regeneration on the desired topography of the grinding wheel that is necessary for assuring the quality of the finished part. Excellent smooth surfaces can be achieved with the use of extremely fine abrasives. This paper presents the results of a theoretical and experimental study of the pre-dressing time for an ELID setup applied to a CNC surface-grinding machine. The theoretical analysis of the pre-dressing time was completed based on the fundamental electrochemical laws. The model of Hong and James concerning the electric field or current density distribution around a diamond particle embedded in a metal anode during ELID was employed. In parallel, a predictive model of the pre-dressing time values was built on the basis of recorded experimental data. Good correlation of the predicted values given by the theoretical and the experimental model was found. An optimization of the pre-dressing time for the considered case was performed in order to improve the efficiency and productivity of the process.