Abstract
In the die and mould making industry it is commonto hand polish the part as a finishing operation irrespective of thetype of primary machining process used in manufacture (e.g.milling, electro discharge machining, etc.).However, there are many problems which are associated with handpolishing (also known as lapping). Thus a possible alternativewhen die sinking using Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) is toelectrochemically polish the surface. Hence the surface resultingafter the EDM process will be a combination of twoabovementioned processes, and as a consequence the way in whichthey interact with each other.The aim of this paper is to examine how two different polishingprocesses, namely, manual lapping and electrochemical polishingaffect the microstructure and the surface topography of the EDMsurface, and also which surface parameters best represent thedifference between the two secondary processes.
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