A study of electrical discharge grinding using a rotary disk electrode

This study aims to investigate the electrical discharge grinding (EDG) using a rotary disk electrode. From a practical perspective, the electrode is designed to mimic the machining process of a surface grinder with horizontal spindles. First, the machining ability of cold working tool steel AISI D2 by EDG is investigated. Then, the optimal machining parameters are found through ANOVA analysis. The experimental results show that both the lower electrode wear rate and the higher materials removal rate are obtained when a rotary disk electrode with positive polarity is conducted on EDG. In addition, the roughness of machined surfaces using an electrode with negative polarity can reach about 2 μm Rt, and no incidence of concentrated discharge or short circuit are found in any machining conditions.