9500389 Rajurkar This engineering research equipment award is to purchase an electrical discharge grinding machine (EDGM), that will be modified as part of the empirical and analytical program at the University of Nebraska to build an innovative new machine, the Abrasive Electrical Discharge Grinding Machine (AEDGM). There is a subtle difference in the commercial machine that they will purchase - the EDGM - and the prototype they will develop - the AEDGM. The commercial machine they will purchase removes material only by spark erosion with a rotating graphite wheel acting as an electrode. Adding abrasives to the wheel allows for mechanical mechanisms to remove material as well. This is important when processing metal matrix composites or ceramics, because the electrical-thermal mechanism only works on conductive materials, leading to low removal efficiency and poor finish for this class of advanced materials. By adding the abrasive mechanical mechanism, this team of researchers will broaden the types of materials, the rates for processing, and the quality of products produced. The work will be done at the University of Nebraska's Nontraditional Manufacturing Processes Laboratory, a facility that has an international track record in this field of research. This award will build the experimental infrastructure to investigate this new process - abrasive electro discharge machining - which promises higher productivity in shaping advanced materials like titanium based alloys, tungsten carbide, and polycrystalline diamond. ***
