Modeling of Ultra-Precision ELID Grinding

The electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) grinding is a new and an efficient process for ultra-precision finishing of hard and brittle materials. Unlike conventional grinding processes, the ELID grinding is a hybrid process that consists of a mechanical and an electrochemical process, and the performance of the ELID grinding process is influenced by the parameters of the above said processes. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new grinding model for the ELID grinding, which can be used to avoid the cumbersome and expensive experimental trials. In this paper, the authors proposed a new grinding model for ultra-precision ELID grinding. The main focus is to develop a force model for the ultra-precision ELID grinding where the material removal is significantly lower than the conventional grinding. When the material removal rate is very low, it is very important to estimate the real contact area between the wheel and work surfaces. The developed grinding model estimates the real contact area by considering the wheel and the work surface characterization and the effect of the electrolytic reaction at the grinding wheel edge. The effects of the microstructure changes on the wheel surface by the electrochemical reaction have been implemented in the model in order to improve the efficiency of the developed model. The grinding model has been simulated and the simulated results are substantiated by the experimental findings.