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The authors have proposed a micro bubble coolant in which micro bubbles (20∼50μm in diameter) are included in water soluble coolant. In the previous study, it was confirmed that the tool life was improved by applying the micro bubble coolant to various machining operations such as drilling, turning and grinding. Also, purification effects of the micro bubble coolant were found. In this study, micro bubble coolant in which inert gases (N2 and CO2) were mixed was proposed to be applied to grinding processes for further improvement in grinding performances. When nitrogen gas (2L/min) was mixed with the micro bubble in the water soluble coolant (70L), amount of the dissolved oxygen in coolant decreased to 0.5mg/L. And concentration of the carbon dioxide gas in the coolant increased to 100mg/L when carbon dioxide gas (2L/min) was mixed in. From the result of grinding test on high speed steel, it was found that grinding performances improved when the micro bubble coolant with any of air, N2 and CO2 gases was used. The grinding force decreased by a factor of about 15% and the tool life increased by 20∼30%. When nitrogen gas was mixed in, the surface roughness improved by about 15%. In grinding stainless steels, performances such as grinding force, tool life and surface roughness improved by 10% when nitrogen gas was mixed in. In addition, a tendency of flank wear reduction and improvement in the surface roughness were observed when air micro bubble was mixed into the coolant in the turning of high carbon steel and Inconel 718 as well. When N2 micro bubble was generated in the coolant, a flank wear was reduced by 20% and surface roughness was improved by 30 to 40%. These effects were higher than the coolant with air micro bubble.

In this study, a polycrystalline composite diamond (PCD) was adopted instead of a single crystal diamond as a burnishing tool. At first, EDM machinability was compared between two kinds of PCDs (10μm grain size), i.e. standard PCD (S-PCD) and electrically conductive PCD (EC-PCD (which was made of boron doped diamond particles). EDM machining time to make a hemispherical shape was 17 minutes for EC-PCD and 37 minutes for S-PCD. Further experiments were conducted with EC-PCD of different grain sizes such as 2μm and 5μm. As a result, the smaller the grain size of EC-PCD the higher the machining efficiency was. Surface roughness values of the EC-PCD after finish EDM were Rz=1.7μm for EC-PCD010, Rz=1.4μm for EC-PCD005, and Rz=1.2μm for EC-PCD002. As a result of burnishing a carbon steel bar (S45C, φ30mm) with the EC-PCD tool, the surface roughness value after machining was improved from 10μm to 1μm.

The authors have been conducting a research to apply strong alkali ion water (pH12 or so) to a working fluid for material removal processing. This is to cope with various problems relating to the existing water-soluble working fluid such as coolant putridity and the associated deterioration of factory environments and increased disposal costs of working fluids as well as to improve machining efficiency and tool life. In this study, the strong alkali ion water was applied to the tapping (M10) of stainless steel (SUS440C). As a result, use of the strong alkali ion water was found to contribute to the tool life improvement.

As a measure to perform a burnishing process easily on an NC lathe, the authors propose a new method using a flank face positioned in a few millimeters lower part of the nose cutting edge of a tool. In the experiment, giving a fixed depth of burnishing (t=1, 2 and 4μm/pass), the carbon steel workpiece (S45C) of φ30mm which had been turned at V=200m/min and f=0.15mm/rev was burnished by predefined number of times. As a result, the surface roughness improved in nearly proportion to the total depth of burnishing and the roughness value of Rz≈10μm measured after turning could be improved to Rz≈2.5μm. Utilizing the feed control with an accuracy level of micron meters of the NC lathe, an attempt to control the dimensional accuracy of the workpiece diameter in the order of micron meters was also made. As a result, the workpiece radius came down constantly by 0.6~0.8 times in proportion to the tool depth of burnishing (t=1μm/pass), which reveals that the dimensional accuracy of the workpiece diameter could be controlled by the proposed burnishing process utilizing a fixed depth of burnishing system. Using the same burnishing process, circularity of the workpiece Δr could be improved to Δr≈2μm from Δr≈4μm measured after turning.

For the purpose of improving the electric discharge machinability of PCD, the authors have proposed a method using an electrode made of a specific transition metal which is easy to react with diamond. As a result, Ti, Nb, Ta, Mo, and W among various reactive metals brought very high efficiency, higher than 3 times of existing electrode materials (Cu, CuW) in the EDM of PCD. It was thought that the higher removal efficiency was due to the material properties such as mixing enthalpy between transition metal atom and carbon atom and a crystal structure of body centered cubic (bcc) lattice.

It has been made clear that the EC-PCD composed of boron doped diamond particles improves the performance in the die sinking EDM and wire EDM in comparison with the existing standard PCD (S-PCD). However, the effect of the property improvement could not been evaluated quantitatively in the research reports in the past. Therefore, in this study, wire EDM cutting tests were conducted on the specimens of S-PCD and EC-PCD, in addition to the evaluation of cutting efficiency and cutting PCD surface, a detailed investigation of the cut surface properties of the PCD has been performed under the color 3D laser scanning microscope. In order to investigate effects of a grain size of the source diamond, EDM cutting experiments were conducted on the EC-PCD specimens of 4 different grain sizes. As a result, it was found that the cutting speed was higher in the case of EC-PCD than the case of S-PCD, e.g., by 20% and 40% respectively in the sample of 10μm and 25μm particle size. Also, in the case of the cut S-PCD surface, a groove due to the discharge is formed in the boundary of the tungsten carbide layer and the PCD layer. However, in the case of the cut EC-PCD surface, the groove did not appear in the boundary.

In order to cope with various problems associated with machining of PCD, development of a new PCD possessing excellent tool properties and good machinability at the same time has been demanded. From this point of view, the authors have developed a new PCD, “EC-PCD (Electrically Conductive PCD)”, composed of boron doped diamond particles in place of the standard non-conductive diamond. In this research, investigation into material properties of the newly developed EC-PCD is made. Through the tests, it was found that the boron doped diamond particles (the source material of the new PCD) had an electrical resistivity of 1.6×10-4Ω·m and the thermal conductivity after sintering was lower than that of the standard PCD. In addition, it was confirmed that the electrical conductivity of the source diamond particles of the EC-PCD had not been lost even under the condition of high temperature and high pressure during the manufacture. As a result of the heat test, EC-PCD’s high resistance to oxidation at high temperatures was confirmed showing no changes in the surface condition even at 675oC while the surface of the S-PCD was largely changed at the same temperature. One of the reasons for this is guessed to be that EC-PCD is hard to react with the cobalt contained as a catalyst metal. Further, it was found in the friction tests using a steel ball that the friction coefficient of the EC-PCD was 50% higher than that of S-PCD at the room temperature though it dropped by 10-30% at the temperature of 80oC.

In order to achieve a high efficient and high quality EDM of PCD, the authors have developed a new PCD having superior electrical conductivity by using boron diamond as a source material. On the other hand they applied a method to give ultrasonic vibrations to the electrode, and have made it clear that even the standard PCD could be machined at the similar level of efficiency to the cases of EDMing die steels and cemented carbides. With a purpose to obtain a good surface roughness on the PCD at high efficiency, various EDM conditions and methods were compared in this paper. Firstly, influence of discharge duration time was examined, and it was found that a shorter pulse duration time as te=0.5μs showed high efficiency and smaller electrode wear rate. Secondary, influence of bipolar pulse current method was examined, and it was found that the method effected higher efficiency but rather large amount of electrode wear resulted. Thirdly, ultrasonic assisted EDM was conducted, and it was found that the method showed superior result regarding efficiency and wear rate on both standard PCD and EC-PCD. A combination use of ultrasonic assisted and bipolar pulse current EDM methods was also attempted in this research. On the contrary to the expectation, efficiency and electrode wear rate became worse in EDM of standard and EC-PCD in comparison with other methods tested before.

Recent years, use of the strong alkali ion water produced by electrolyzing high purity water (RO water) with addition of a small amount of electrolyte (potassium carbonate) is becoming widely used as a substitutable cleaning liquid in place of organic solvent which is said to exert a bad influence on the environment. The authors have been conducting a research to apply this strong alkali ion water (pH12 or so) to a working fluid for material removal processing. This is to cope with various problems relating to the existing water-soluble working fluid such as coolant putridity and the associated deterioration of factory environments and increased disposal costs of working fluids as well as to improve machining efficiency and tool life. In this study, the authors would like to describe how the working fluid consisting of water-soluble lubricant diluted with the strong alkali ion water contributes to an improvement of the factory environment and verify experimentally that the said fluid could improve the tool life by 1.2 to several times. In addition, a factor contributing to the improvement of material removal characteristics has been found to be the fact that the friction resistance of the said fluid containing the strong alkali ion water is as low as 2/3~1/2 of that of the fluid diluted with the city water.

Electrically conductive PCD (EC-PCD), which was made of electrically conductive diamond particles, was applied to an electrode for EDM. In this study, properties of EC-PCD electrode in the EDM of cemented carbide were investigated and the results were compared with those of copper-tungsten (Cu-W) electrode and standard PCD (S-PCD) electrode. In terms of EDM speed, 35μm/min with Cu-W electrode, 15μm/min with S-PCD electrode and 22μm/min with EC-PCD were recorded. As for the electrode wear rate, though Cu-W electrode wore by 20-30%, S-PCD and EC-PCD did not wear at all and even the electrode length became longer by several micro meters. Roughness value of the EDMed surface was Rz=8μm with both Cu-W and S-PCD, while it was Rz=3μm in the case of EC-PCD. From the above, it was found that EC-PCD showed excellent performance in the electrode wear rate and the roughness of the EDMed surface, though EDM speed was 0.7 times of Cu-W electrode.

The authors developed “Dynamic Friction Polishing (DF polishing) Method” utilizing a thermochemical reaction between a diamond workpiece and a metal. This method enables high efficiency abrasive-free polishing of single crystal and polycrystalline diamonds (PCD) by simply pressing them against a stainless steel (SUS304) disc rotating at a high peripheral speed (VS>2500m/min). In the authors’ previous paper, a top of the diamond test piece (0.6mm×0.6mm, (100) plane) was removed at a rate of 2.6mm/min (0.94mm3/min) under the polishing condition of sliding speed VS=4000m/min, loading pressure P=130MPa and polishing time t=10s. A bottleneck for practical use of this method is a high pressure over 100MPa required for pressing a diamond workpiece against a rotating stainless steel disc. In this paper, a high efficiency tool was manufactured by electro-spark deposition of highly reactive special metals on a base disc tool. Among various reactive metals Nb and W brought very high efficiency in the polishing of a single crystal diamond.

For a purpose to improve electric discharge machinability of PCD composed of coarse (25μm) diamond particles, which has been thought to be extremely difficult to EDM, in this study, a method (US-EDM) to give an ultrasonic vibration to an electrode in axial direction, flexural direction and complex direction that couples axial and flexural directions was attempted. As a result, it was found that EDM efficiency could be improved to 6 times higher (0.065mm3/min) than a standard efficiency (0.011mm3/min) obtained in machining conventional PCD (C-PCD) and the electrode wear could be reduced to 1/2 by giving vibrations to the electrode in axial direction (frequency f=28kHz, amplitude δ=18μm). Further, this method (US-EDM) was applied also to a new PCD (EC-PCD) composed of electrically conductive diamond particles. As a result, it was made clear that EDM efficiency could be improved to 0.22mm3/min. This value is equivalent to approximately 5 times higher efficiency obtained in the machining of ordinary die steel and cemented carbide materials.

EDM machinability of PCD was investigated using a copper electrode giving ultrasonic vibrations. In this series of EDM experiments, three types of ultrasonic vibration modes were selected (axial vibration, flexural vibration and complex vibration). From the experimental results, it was found that EDM efficiency became 3 times higher than the ordinary EDM (no vibration given to the electrode) under the two specific vibration modes, namely, 1) the axial vibration (large) mode and 2) the complex vibration (axial vibration: large+flexural vibration: small) mode. Furthermore, it was shown that the effects resulted from not only the cavitation effect of the working fluid but also the vibrational action of the electrode itself.

Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond (EC-PCD) material, which consists of electrically conductive diamond particles, has recently been developed for the purpose of providing the material with both excellent tool property and machinability. This paper deals with material properties and electrical discharge machinability of EC-PCD. The result shows that the EC-PCD is superior in heat resistance to conventional PCD by a factor of about 200 °C. And the EC-PCD shows low frictional wear at high temperature in a sliding test against a stainless steel disk. Furthermore, processing speed of EC-PCD is more than 7 times higher than that of conventional PCD in EDM.

Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond (EC-PCD) material, which consists of electrically conductive diamond particles, has recently been developed for the purpose of providing the material with both excellent tool properties and machinability. This paper deals with effects of giving ultrasonic vibrations to an electrode on the EDM characteristics of EC-PCD with a view to achieve a great improvement in electro-discharge performance. In this series of EDM experiments, three types of ultrasonic vibration modes were selected (axial vibration, flexural vibration and complex vibration). The result showed that the removal efficiency of EC-PCD increased in any vibration modes. Especially when axial vibration with large amplitude and complex vibration composed of axial mode and flexural mode were given to the electrode, removal efficiency became four times higher than that obtained when no vibration was given. And, electrode wear rate was reduced to one third or 68% against the value of 187% obtained when no vibration was given. Furthermore it was shown that the effects resulted from not only the cavitation action of the working fluid but also the vibrational action of the electrode itself.

With its high grit retention and easiness to true and dress, the vitrified bond is widely used as a bond material for cBN and diamond grinding wheels. By giving electrical conductivity to the vitrified bond, application of electrical discharge trueing/dressing and detection of a workpiece position by electrical contact sensing will become possible. And moreover, application of the vitrified bonded wheels to various types of electro-assisted grinding processes (electrochemical or electro discharge assisted methods) is expected. In this study, vitrified bonded diamond segments with electrical conductivity were manufactured experimentally by mixing the fine copper powders in the vitrified bond matrix. As a result of investigation into the electro discharge trueing performance in the die sinking and wire electro discharge machining, it was found that a vitrified bonded wheel could be formed by electro discharge machining only because the bond was electrically conductive. In addition, the electro discharge complex grinding utilizing electric discharge machining was applied to the PCD cutting tool materials using the electrically conductive vitrified bonded wheel, and confirmed that the grinding could be continued for a long time maintaining a stable grinding force.

This paper deals with a new surface finishing method of electrically conductive diamond materials by making efficient use of an electrically conductive nature of the workpiece material, instead of conventional methods such as grinding, lapping and polishing using diamond abrasives. The authors focused on the electrolytic machining method and not on the electro discharge machining method for the two advantageous features of the electrolytic machining in addition to the general view that a better surface roughness could be obtained. One of those features is that no higher heat is generated at the machining point. This can eliminate a risk of the film delamination in the case where a workpiece is the CVD diamond coated tool. The other is that a wider machining gap is available between an electrode and a workpiece. This was thought to allow the electrolytic machining to be applied to a tool with a complex shape such as a drill and an endmill. Based on these concepts, electrolytic machining experiments were conducted on the electrically conductive diamond materials. From the results, it was found that the surface of the electrically conductive diamond could be smoothened enough by electrolytic machining though relatively long period of time was required.

In grinding processes, water-soluble working fluid is in heavy usage to maintain and improve a grinding performance. In this paper, effects of the water quality (soft or hard) were studied in a new filter-less purification system using commercially available Polyglutamic acid based flocculants and the microbubble coolant at the same time. As a result of the experiments, it was found that the collection rate of the suspended matters by the magnetic adsorption removal for the hard water became lower compared to the soft water, due to the Ca component contained in rich. It has also been made clear that by removing the suspended matters in the fluid flocked by the flocculant using the magnetic adsorption method and overflowing the residue with the microbubbles after that, the collection rate of the suspended matters in the soft water fluid would become higher than 99%. In the case of the hard water as well, improvement of the collection rate by the microbubbles was confirmed.

EDM machinability of PCD was investigated using a copper electrode giving ultrasonic vibrations. In this series of EDM experiments, three types of ultrasonic vibration modes were selected (axial vibration, flexural vibration and complex vibration). From the experimental results, it was found that EDM efficiency became 3 times higher than the ordinary EDM (no vibration given to the electrode) under the two specific vibration modes, namely, 1) the axial vibration (large) mode and 2) the complex vibration (axial vibration: large + flexural vibration: small) mode. Furthermore, it was shown that the effects resulted from not only the cavitation effect of the working fluid but also the vibrational action of the electrode itself.

A vitrified bonded diamond wheel having electrical conductivity was manufactured on a trial basis. The electrically conductive (EC) vitrified bonded diamond wheel has enabled an electrodischarge truing and an electrical contact sensing. In this study, the EC vitrified bonded diamond wheel is applied to the EDM (Electro Discharge Machining) assisted grinding of PCD materials. The result shows that a lower and more stable grinding force can be realized and a better surface finish is attained compared with those achievable with a metal bonded diamond wheel.

This paper deals with prediction of improvement in surface roughness in helical scan grinding by simulation of virtual ground surface with a 3D-CAD model. It has been found that, by choosing the value of parameters of several grit conditions such as grit arrangement, protrusion height, inclination angle and so on, randomly for a real wheel, the maximum unevenness of the virtual ground surface and tendency of its change with feed angle nearly coincide with the surface roughness in the experiment of helical scan grinding. It is found that this simulation method is effective for the prediction of a surface ground by helical scan grinding.

Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond (EC-PCD), which consists of electrically conductive diamond particles manufactured by doping boron atoms, has recently been developed for the purpose of providing material with both excellent tool properties and good machinability. This paper deals with an investigation into the machinability of EC-PCD by EDM with a copper electrode. As a result, it was found that the material removal rate of EC-PCD made up of diamond particles of 10 and 25 µm in diameter respectively was far higher than that of the conventional PCD. Furthermore, it was confirmed in the single pulse EDM experiment with a needle electrode that the EC diamond region in the EC-PCD was removed together with the cobalt region whereas only the cobalt region of C-PCD was removed when the electrode was set at plus polarity.

Polycrystalline Composite Diamond (PCD) is excellent in chipping resistance despite its very high hardness. However, it is not easy to EDM or grind PCD. To realize high efficiency and high quality processing of PCD simply and at low cost, the authors devised new PCD (EC-PCD) by using electrically conductive diamond particles and applied a complex electrodischarge grinding method. In this study, investigation is made on effective grinding condition to realize high efficiency, low and stable grinding force and low wheel wear in complex electrodischarge grinding. As a result, superior grinding property was obtained when the grinding wheel was set at minus polarity, and set peak current of iP = 4 and 6 A was applied. Furthermore it also became clear that additional conventional grinding process followed after complex electrodischarge grinding improved the surface condition.

Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond (EC-PCD) material, which consists of electrically conductive diamond grits, has recently been developed for the purpose of providing the material with both excellent tool property and machinability. This paper deals with the material property and the wear characteristics of EC-PCD. The result shows that the EC-PCD is superior in heat resistance compared with the conventional PCD. And the EC-PCD shows low frictional wear at high temperature in sliding test against stainless steel disk. Furthermore, in a cutting test of aluminum alloy, the EC-PCD cutting tool shows the same wear characteristics as the conventional PCD tool.

This paper deals with a technique to easily suppress bad odor of water-soluble coolant (working fluid) by using a commercially available ion generator for home use. At the shop floor, water-soluble coolant is in heavy use, where putrid bad odor is apt to be generated from water since over 95% of the coolant component is water, leading to a short life of the coolant. Expecting an effect of suppressing putrid odor of water-soluble coolant, application of ion mixed air using an ion generator for house use was examined. As a result, bubbling with ion mixed air could achieve a drastic suppression of a bad odor generated from putrid water-soluble coolant, compared to a bubbling with air only. In addition, it was confirmed that by discharging ions into a machine emitting a bad odor, the odor level decreases drastically. From these results, a machine having an ion generator built-in can be proposed as an environmentally friendly machine tool.

A new PCD (electrically conductive PCD: EC-PCD) consisting of electrically conductive diamond particles has recently been developed. The authors have proposed a complex grinding assisted with electrical discharge machining (EDM) where discharge machining and grinding are used in combination during material removal to realize high efficiency, low and stable grinding force and low wheel wear for the EC-PCD. In this study, the effect of constant-force grinding in a complex grinding assisted with electrical discharge machining of EC-PCD was investigated. As a result, it was found that higher material removal rate, higher grinding ratio and better surface condition were obtained on EC-PCD compared with standard PCD (S-PCD) in the constant-force grinding.

A new PCD material named EC-PCD (Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond), which consists of electrically conductive diamond grits, has recently been developed. This paper deals with an investigation of a complex grinding assisted with electrical discharge machining (EDM) to realize high efficiency, low and stable grinding force and low wheel wear for the new EC-PCD. The effect of complex grinding assisted with EDM is compared experimentally with the standard PCD (S-PCD). The result shows that, in the complex grinding, lower and more stable grinding force is realized thanks to the material removal action in EDM and that lower wheel wear and better surface finish are attained, just when the EC-PCD is selected as a workpiece.

Electrically conductive polycrystalline composite diamond (EC-PCD), which consists of electrically conductive diamond grits, has recently been developed for the purpose of providing the material with both excellent tool property and good machinability. This paper deals with an investigation of machinability of EC-PCD by EDM with a copper (Cu) electrode. As a result, it was found that the EDM speed (Material removal rate) for EC-PCD was higher than that of the standard PCD. Although the surface roughness of the standard PCD was 13µm Rzjis at set current ip=3A, the surface roughness of the EC-PCD was 5µm Rzjis at the same current condition. Furthermore, it was observed that the EC diamond particle in EC-PCD was machined by single discharge EDM. Moreover, it was confirmed that EC-PCD was able to be applied a fine discharge profiling or a making fine holes using a rotating electrode.

This paper deals with a new PCD named EC-PCD which is made up of boron doped diamond particles and its properties related to EDM machinability. For the purpose of improving various properties of standard PCD including resistance to heat, wear and reactivity, a new PCD (EC-PCD) was manufactured on a trial basis using electrically conductive diamond particle as a basic ingredient. Grain size, resistivity and thermal conductivity of the boron doped diamond used are 10μm, 5~37×10Ω•m and 440~580W/m•K. In this report, machinability of newly developed PCD (EC-PCD) by wire EDM was investigated in comparison with that of standard PCD. In wire cutting of 2 types of PCD in water under the condition of open gap voltage: ue=80V, set peak current: iP=0.8A and pulse condition: te/to=20/20μs, it was found that roughness of the first cut surface of standard PCD was approximately 8μm Rz, while that of EC-PCD was far better such as 3μm. Also in finish cut (7th cut), the latter achieved the value of Rz=1.7μm while the former achieved only the value of Rz=2.7μm. Expecting better performance, EC-PCD was tested also in oil. As a result, the best achieved roughness was improved to Rz=0.4μm with no chipping on the edge. To explore a reason for such a good roughness obtained, the cut samples were observed on the SEM, which revealed that the diamond particles in EC-PCD were flattened by electro discharge.

This paper deals with prediction of improvement in surface roughness in helical scan grinding by simulation of virtual ground surface with a 3D-CAD model. It has been found that, by choosing the value of parameters of four grit conditions such as grit arrangement, protrusion height, apex angle and inclination angle randomly to a real wheel, the maximum unevenness of the virtual ground surface and tendency of its change with feed angle nearly coincide with the surface roughness in the experiment of helical scan grinding. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that this analyzing method can be applied to R-shaped groove grinding and suggested that helical scan grinding is effective in grinding bearing grooves.

The authors have proposed a new coolant named “micro bubble coolant” in which micro bubbles (20-50µm in diameter) are included. In the previous study, it was clarified that the tool life is improved by applying this new coolant to various machining such as boring, turning and grinding. This paper deals with purification effect of the micro bubble coolant. It has been found from the experiments that bacteria which cause putrefaction of the conventional water soluble coolant are eliminated by generating micro bubbles in the coolant. It has also been clarified that the micro bubble coolant isolates minute machined chips and machine oil from the coolant.

This paper proposes a new dynamic friction polishing method which utilizes resistance heating for solving a problem of too high pressure on a workpiece in the previous dynamic friction polishing method proposed by the authors. In the new method, an electrically conductive diamond workpiece (which has proper electric resistance) is heated by an electrical current flowing from a stainless steel disc tool to the diamond workpiece during the dynamic friction polishing and the polishing efficiency increases remarkably even at a very low pressure on the workpiece. For example, polishing efficiencies of 233 and 800 µm/min are attained at low pressures of 2 and 5 MPa, respectively, at a disc sliding speed of 2500 m/min.

In order to realize electrochemical finishing in tap water, an ultrasonic vibration using a transducer enabling three kinds of vibration modes, i.e., axial, bending, and complex, was given to the electrode. During the test finishing, it was observed that with electrode without ultrasonic vibration, the workpiece surface was simply covered with the rust. On the contrary, by applying the ultrasonic vibration of bending vibration mode or complex vibration mode with an appropriate amplitude, the material removal rate was increased and the surface roughness was improved.

Estimation of mechanism of surface finish improvement in helical scan grinding, a method in which a good surface finish is obtained besides keeping a high grinding efficiency, is performed based on the virtual grinding trace using a 3D-CAD model. In three grit models, (a) a single grit on a wheel, (b) plural grits arrangement on a helical line on the wheel circumference, and (c) multiple grit arrangement in a triangular pattern, virtual grinding traces and their unevenness or surface roughness are investigated. The virtual grinding trace in helical scan grinding is made by interference of grit trajectories, and the results of the analysis are very similar to experimental results.

In order to apply the floating nozzle method to an angular grinding on the external cylindrical grinding, basic experiments on V-groove grinding with the wheel edge were performed on the surface-grinding machine. The results showed that the floating nozzle method could maintain a good control of the wheel edge wear, leading to improved surface roughness compared with a conventional nozzle.

It has been reported in our previous report that electrically conductive CVD diamond (hereafter, EC-CVD diamond) having specific resistance of the order of 1x10-3 Ω⋅m shows almost zero electrode wear even at the short pulse duration of 3μs on a die-sinking EDM machine. In this research EDM properties are investigated in the context of the pulse on time in oil and water. It is found that the electrode polarity has an effect on the electrode wear of the EC-CVD diamond electrode in oil. In the test in oil, EC-CVD diamond shows zero wear at positive [+] electrode polarity but a higher wear at negative [-] electrode polarity than that of the copper electrode. Furthermore, the EC-CVD diamond electrode showed very less wear than copper even in water. These results in oil and water may be due to the high thermal diffusivity, an increased rate of carbon adhesion and the high thermal stability of the EC-CVD diamond electrode. Workpiece surface roughness using the EC-CVD diamond electrode is about 20~50% lower than using the copper electrode under the same EDM conditions. From the single pulse discharge experiment with EC-CVD diamond and copper electrodes, the improvement in roughness is explained by the dispersion of the discharge in the case of EC-CVD diamond due to its rather high specific resistance.

In order to improve the floating nozzle method, a new coolant supply method using a coolant flow guided flexible sheet has been developed. In this paper, basic properties of the coolant supply when the coolant flow guided flexible sheet method is used are investigated. At first, the phenomenon of automatic adherence of the flexible sheet to the wheel surface is observed with a high-speed camera. Next, the effect of the clearance between the sheet and the wheel surface is experimentally investigated. It is found that the thickness of the coolant flow in this clearance is very small as about 0.1mm, and can be controlled to some extent by controlling the coolant flow rate and wheel rotation speed. Furthermore, it is clarified that the influence of the flexible sheet on the electric power consumption of the main spindle motor is small.

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) exhibits a thermal conductivity similar to that of the electrically conductive chemical vapor deposition diamond (EC-CVD diamond) found to function as zero-wear electrodes at short pulse duration. In this study, PCD was used as electrodes applied to EDM on tungsten carbide. Two kinds of PCD (CTB-010 and CTH-025) with a flat surface were used. The wear of the PCD electrodes was about 1.5% for very short pulse duration such as te=1μs, but it was zero wear at te=30μs, though the wear of a Cu-W electrode was 10% even on the machine recommended conditions for the low wear. EDM experiment using a V-shaped PCD electrode with an included angle of 45° was also carried out and the performance was compared with the case using a V-shaped Cu-W electrode. Under the conditions of a no load voltage of 60V, a set peak current of 2A, and a medium pulse duration of te=15μs, there was no wear on PCD electrodes when observed under the SEM, whereas a 50μm-deep wear on the Cu-W electrodes even under the machine recommended condition for the low wear was observed.

A new complex grinding method named Ultrasonic Electrodischarging Grinding Method (US-ED-G in short) is described. In the US-ED-G, ultrasonic grinding and ED grinding are simultaneously carried out on an electrically conductive workpiece with a metal bond grinding wheel. When compared with other complex grinding methods, the US-ED-G is remarkably effective in reducing grinding force a great deal and maintaining grinding ability of a wheel for a long time in efficient grinding of extremely hard-to-grind ceramic materials like TiB2. A stock removal rate of 200mm3/min and a grinding ratio of 110 have been attained by selecting appropriate conditions in US-ED-G of TiB2. A compact and rigid ultrasonic attachment is also described, which was developed as a removable tool for carrying out US grinding and US-ED-grinding on a machining center or a grinding center.

This paper proposes a new PCD (polycrystalline diamond) wheel with porous skeleton structure realized by removing the cobalt binder from PCD by EDM (electrodischarge machining), and investigates the grinding characteristics of the wheel. The pores are made successfully on PCD by adopting appropriate EDM conditions. The efficiency of making the pores is found to be higher, when the size of the diamond grains in the PCD material is small, and jumping motion to the copper electrode is not given during the EDM. A porous PCD grinding wheel made by this method using a rotating circular PCD (grain size of 10'm) disc of 20mm diameter has a good skeleton structure with sufficient projections on the wheel surface. A satisfactory grinding characteristics with a surface finish of Ra=0.02'm in grinding on a tungsten carbide work is achieved.

Metal and resin bonded diamond wheels were trial manufactured from boron doped diamond grits possessing electrical conductivity and high oxidation temperature. From the results of the investigation on the electro-discharge truing performance, a high truing efficiency along with the possibility of formation of cutting edges on the grits was confirmed. According to the results of the grinding experiment performed using this grinding wheel with flattened abrasive tips, a remarkable improvement in the work surface roughness could be achieved. Furthermore, from the results of the grinding test on cemented carbide and optical glass using the boron doped diamond grits wheel, the grinding ratio was found to increase significantly, whereas the surface roughness improved compared to a conventional diamond grits (similar friability) wheel.