Surface roughness of sintered yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) using high speed moderate depth super-abrasive grinding

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to understand the surface characteristics and removal mechanism in high speed deep grinding of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The grinding wheels used in the present study are single layer electroplated diamond grinding wheels of 151 μm grit size having grits of grade PDA878 (Element six). Most of the previous studies have employed resin bonded and single layer vacuum bonded diamond grinding wheels. Previous investigators also do not reveal the morphology of the grit used, which is very important for high speed grinding of ceramics. The diameters of the wheels used in high-speed grinding (up to 200 m/sec) are 125 mm, with a width of 10 mm. Surface roughness were measured and morphological features of ground surfaces were examined. The grinding forces and specific grinding energies are very less compared to grinding of metals and metallic alloys because of the mechanism of ceramic grinding which is by micro brittle fracture, whereas the mechanism of grinding in metals and metallic alloys is by shear deformation. Smooth, fractured, smeared and ploughing striation on ground surface of YSZ was observed using scanning electron microscopy.