Grinding of cermets with cup-wheels

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Cup-wheels are frequently used to grind cermets, a difficult-to-grind material. An investigation was made into the transient geometry of the cup-wheel rim, grit dulling, wheel loading, and wheel self-sharpening with chip thickness. Tests were performed on a saw-tip grinding machine and specific energies, G-ratios and rim geometries were measured. Results showed that, like grinding of tungsten-carbide, loading is prevalent. However, unlike grinding of tungstencarbide, grit dulling is also prevalent and wheel conditioning is of limited use. Much better results, particularly with respect to surface finish, can be obtained if the wheel is trued to a predetermined geometry. In addition, grinding parameters must be chosen to induce wheel self-sharpening. Practical recommendations are given.