A market leader in cylindrical grinding, Studer AG (www.studer.com) recently announced the winner of its fourth Fritz Studer Award (the research award scheme is for graduates from European universities and higher-education technical colleges).

The entries had to address one of several topics, namely: innovative machine concepts or components for machine tools in precision machining; alternative materials in mechanical engineering; simulation models of dynamic and thermal behaviour of machine tools; control and sensor concepts for machine tools; or new or further developed manufacturing technologies, especially in hard-fine machining, such as grinding and hard turning.

The winner was Eduardo Weingärtner from the Institute of Machine Tools and Manufacturing (located in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) for his entry ‘On-Machine Wire Electrical Discharge Dressing of Metal Bonded Grinding Wheels’.

The focus of Dr Weingärtner’s research is the examination of wire erosion for dressing metal-bonded-diamond grinding wheels.

That said, his work involved not only the development of a wire erosion dressing unit and its integration into a grinding machine, but also the modelling, simulation and optimisation of the wire erosion dressing process. He also developed a special wire guide that proved to be key to a reliable dressing process.