The effects of ELID-electrolytic coolant with nanometer-sized carbon particles on microcutting of high-chromium steel with a diamond tool were investigated and the results were compared with those obtained with conventional kerosene mist coolant. This newly developed ion-shot coolant system produced a mirror surface on ferrous material and prevented adhesion between the diamond tool and the ferrous material, resulting in longer tool life. It also improved cutting performance and its electrochemical adhesion process resulted in effective discharge of the minute chips of the ferrous material.

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The grindability of fine-ceramics is the most important information to determine the optimum grinding conditions and dressing intervals. This study proposes a method of grindability evaluation of fine-ceramics using removal rate in constant pressure grinding. The grindability evaluation is based on the changes in removal rate accompanied by increases in stock removal. The relationship between dressing interval in constant pressure grinding and constant cutting depth grinding was examined experimentally. The results indicated that both dressing intervals are correlated. The dressing interval of constant cutting depth grinding can be evaluated qualitatively from the removal rate of constant pressure grinding.

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To solve the problem of electrode wear during EDM finishing of hard metals and tungsten carbide, polycrystalline diamond (PCD) was chosen as an electrode material. This study showed how changes in the cobalt content or thermal conductivity of various PCD electrode materials made from diamond particles are affected on EDM of SKD11 or tungsten carbide workpiece material. Experiments indicated that wear of PCD electrodes was almost zero. In the case of EDM finishing of a tungsten carbide workpiece, the PCD electrode showed almost zero wear when the pulse duration was more than 5μs, and for short pulse durations, such as 1μs, the PCD electrode showed wear of less than 3%.

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