The Grinding Wheel Performance in the Transverse Cylindrical Grinding of an Eutetic Alloy

Abstract

This paper presents a research in which the performance of two different grinding wheels (a conventional and a CBN wheel) was evaluated in a transverse cylindrical grinding of a eutectic alloy. Three cutting conditions were tested: rough, semi-finishing and finishing. As evaluating parameters, the cutting force, the roughness and the wheel wear were measured. As a result, the best values of the cutting force and the roughness were obtained when grinding with the conventional wheel, due to the best dressing operation performed, for all the cutting conditions. The CBN presented the best G ratio values. Although, the G ratio values observed for the CBN wheel were lower than the expected one due to the non-effective dressing operation applied. In the conditions tested, in terms of cutting force and roughness, the conventional wheel is the best choice. In terms of G ratio, a cost analysis is crucial to determine if the differences observed among the wheels can justify the use of the CBN wheel. In a positive case, the dressing operation must be improved.