Wear and self-sharpening of vitrified bond diamond wheels during sapphire grinding

摘要

Vitrified bond diamond wheels were tested during grinding of single crystal sapphire on a precisionCNC grinding platform. Self-sharpening, evidenced by the occurrence of cyclic behavior in themachine deflection (grinding force), was observed for wheels made with one bond! diamondcomposition. These wheels could remove large volumes of sapphire without re-dressing. The self-sharpening effect was reproducible but showed considerable variability in terms of the detailed cycleshape. Wheel failure eventually occurred due to a loss of the self-sharpening action (overloading) orstall-out of the spindle. Process conditions producing increased wheel wear enhanced the self-sharpening action.