The authors have presented a new method of electro-discharge mechanical dressing of ultra-hard abrasive tools with metal bonds in which brush electrodes were used. This kind of machining is denoted as EDMD (electro-discharge mechanical dressing) and combines features of electro-discharge machining with mechanical treatment so that thin layers of the bond are removed. Moreover, the brush electrode offers the additional possibility of introducing the advantageous (having the anchorage of the abrasive grains in mind) state of compressive stress and strain hardening of the outer layer of the bond.

The paper presents a brief study of brush electro-discharge mechanical machining (BEDMM) with an elastic, discrete electrode. This method is useful for the smoothing of free-form surfaces using a general-use electrode. It can be realized as a combination of mechanical and erosion machining or it can be e ected with the same tool as an additional operation of mechanical machining that would result with additional smoothing and introduction of the compression stress into the surface layer. The surface layer created after BEDMM is featured with a considerable share of the cathode material and the obtained roughness R a is approximately 1 mm.

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