Book excerpt: Today’s stringent design requirements and difficult-to-machine materials such as tough super alloys, ceramics, and composites, have made traditional machining processes costly and obsolete. As a result, manufacturers and machine design engineers are turning to advance machining processes. These machining processes utilizes electrical, chemical, and optimal sources of energy to bind, form and cut materials. El-Hofy rigorously explains how each of these advanced machining process work, their machining system components, process variables and industrial applications, making this book the perfect guide for anyone designing, researching or converting to a more advance machining process.