Generation of textured diamond abrasive tools by continuous-wave CO2 laser: Laser parameter effects and optimisation

Textured Diamond Abrasive Tools (TDATs) have been attracted multitudes of attentions from both academic scholars and industrial engineers due to the reported superior grinding performances. However, the absence of appropriate fabrication technologies can still be considered as the bottleneck of wide applications of TDATs. To fill this gap, this paper utilised the continuous-wave CO2 laser to produce passive-grinding structures on the diamond abrasive tool surfaces. Not only the theoretical analysis of the non-metallic multi-material ablation threshold for diamond abrasive tools, but also the experimental investigation of the effects of both the laser power and the beam feed rate on both the topographies and morphologies of the produced structures were studied. The different structure generation mechanisms under different laser parameters were analyzed as well. Based on this, the strategy for selecting proper ablation parameters was provided. Various examples of the produced textured wheels were given in the end to prove the study significance and feasibility. The presented work was expected helpful to provide a new method for industries to produce textured grinding wheels in an efficient and low-cost way.