Effect of Novel Grinding Wheels on Grinding Performance

Abstract

Grinding, a technique for removing abrasive materials, is a chip-removal process that uses an individual abrasive grain as the cutting tool. Abrasive material removal processes can be very challenging owing to the high power requirements and the resulting high temperatures, especially at the workpiece-wheel interface. This paper presents a novel system that uses graphite particles impregnated in an aluminum oxide matrix to form a grinding wheel. This study specifically investigated grinding wheels with a graphite content of 0.5 wt%. The new grinding wheel was compared with conventional grinding wheels by comparing the factors of grinding performance, such as surface roughness, morphology, wheel wear ratio, grinding temperature, and grinding forces, when the wheels were used under two different coolant strategiesdry and with minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) using pure water. This study found that there is a considerable improvement in the grinding performance using graphite-impregnated grinding wheels over the performance obtained using conventional grinding wheels. The use of 0.5 wt% graphite provided better surface roughness and topography, lower grinding temperature, and decreased force; in addition, wheel consumption was lower, resulting in extended wheel life.