Forces and Energy in Circular Sawing and Grinding of Granite

Abstract

An investigation is reported of the forces and energy in circular sawing and grinding of gray granite. Measurements were made of the forces and power over a wide range of sawing and grinding conditions. Calculated tangential force components were found to be much different than the measured horizontal force components for sawing, but the two forces were almost identical for grinding. The location of the resultant force was proportionally further away from the bottom of the cutting zone with longer contact lengths. For sawing, the normal force per grain was nearly proportional to the calculated undeformed chip thickness. The G-ratios at different sawing rates reached a maximum value at the same intermediate undeformed chip thickness, which was attributed to a transition in the diamond wear mechanism from attrition to fracture at a critical normal force per grain. SEM observations indicated material removal mainly by brittle fracture, with some evidence of ductile plowing especially for grinding and to a lesser extent for sawing. The corresponding fracture energy was estimated to constitute a negligible portion of the total energy expenditure. About 30 percent of the sawing energy might be due to the interaction of the swarf with the applied fluid and bond matrix. Most of the energy for sawing and grinding is attributed to ductile plowing. Analogous to recent studies on grinding of ceramics and glass, the power per unit width was found to increase linearly with the generation of plowed surface area per unit width.