Electrochemical grinding combines anodic dissolution with mechanical abrasion from a conductive wheel to remove material and shape a surface, typically used for hard-alloy stock removal and mirror-finish work. Electrochemical deburring uses the same anodic-dissolution principle but without significant mechanical contact, targeting burr removal from edges and holes where a purely mechanical tool would risk stress or damage. Both processes appear together in this dataset because they share electrolyte chemistry, current control and electrode-design claim language, even though their end applications differ.

The ranking covers 84 assignees, with the leader holding 26 of the 227 records in scope and the top 5 combined accounting for 44.1% of all records. That leaves a real gap between the top of the field and the rest, since fifth place holds only 11 records and tenth place just 5. Reviewing the leader's specific claims alongside the next four ranked assignees is the fastest way to understand where the contested ground actually sits.

Filings peaked at 17 in 2021 and had fallen to 3 by 2024, an 82% decline over that span, and several previously active assignees show no filings in the most recent tracked year. That said, publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued slide. A fair read is that the field cooled from a 2021 peak, with the most recent trend still unresolved.

B23H, covering electrochemical and electro-machining processes, appears on 47.1% of the 227 records and is the anchor class for this field. B24B (grinding and polishing) and C25F (electrolytic removal and cleaning) follow at 28.2% and 16.7% respectively, reflecting that many filings claim both the machining process and the mechanical or electrolytic finishing step together. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to a whole, so no single class should be treated as covering the full field.

The clearest under-claimed areas sit at the overlap with adjacent applications rather than in the core mechanism itself: dental-alloy grinding, battery-electrode surface finishing, and pulsed-waveform electrolyte control all show thinner filing density relative to the core B23H/B24B claim set. In-process electrolyte selection logic, as opposed to fixed electrolyte formulations, is another area with relatively few independent claims given how central electrolyte choice is to process performance. A first claim in any of these branches would do best to tie a specific electrolyte or waveform parameter to a measurable outcome, such as material removal rate or surface residual stress, rather than claiming the general apparatus.