Effect of the Grinding Oil Type on CBN Grinding Wheels Performance

Abstract

The efficiency of the grinding process highly depends on the coolant lubricant used. In grinding with CBN grinding wheels grinding oils are used increasingly. In the last decade new grinding oils based on different oil types are brought into the market, whose effect on the CBN grinding wheels performance until now not sufficiently been investigated. The Institute of Grinding and Precision Technology (KSF) investigated the influence of four different grinding oils on the performance of vitrified CBN grinding while grinding of 100Cr6 (M.-No. 1.3505), which is a heat-treatable steel with a very good grindability, and Nimonic A80, which is a difficult to grind heat-resistance superalloy. The obtained results show that the performance of the vitrified CBN grinding wheels—while using grinding oil as coolant lubricant—regarding the quality of the work piece surface, the grinding forces as well as the wear of the grinding wheel, highly depend on the viscosity of the grinding oil. Moreover, the results show that the surface quality and the grinding forces while using different grinding oils depend significantly on the work piece material.