Ceramic response to high speed grinding

Material response was investigated with respect to normal grinding forces, surface roughness, and removal mechanisms in grinding of alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and zircona with a resin-bond 160 mum grit diamond wheel at the grinding speeds of up to 160 m/s. The results reveal that the normal grinding forces decreased significantly with an increase in grinding speed; they also increased substantially with an increase in a complex relation of the ceramic hardness and toughness. High speed grinding produced a reduction in surface roughness for silicon carbide and alumina but gave no improvement for zirconia and silicon nitride. Also the surface roughness in high speed grinding was found to be material-dependent that the ground silicon nitride exhibited much smoother than the other ground ceramics. The influence of grinding speed on material removal mechanisms was analyzed in terms of grinding geometry and ceramic material properties.