BASICS OF GRINDING

1 Grinding Wheel
Grinding Process
2 Types of Grinding Process Optimisation
3 Types of Grinding Machines
 What is a Grinding Wheel
A multi point cutting Tool
 What does a GW contain

• Thousands of sharp Abrasive grains

• Bond to hold the grains firmly together

• Structure or grain spacing

 Types of Abrasives

Bonded abrasives
Abrasive is held together with bonding material like
Grinding Wheels, Honing Stones

Coated abrasives
Abrasive is coated in a relatively thin layer on a
backing of Cloth, Paper or Fiber like Grinding Belts,
Rolls, Discs
 Desired Properties
High Hardness High resistance to breakdown

Sharp Edges on Chipping Good and “Cool" machining

Thermal Resistance No breakdown caused by high temperatures

Chemical Inertness Not sensitive to external influences

Compressive Strength Resistance to impact

Brittleness Nature of readiness to chip

 Grinding Wheel Nomenclature

A 60 M 6 V CNM

Abrasive

Grit Size

Grade
Structure
Bond

Manufacturer’s
Code
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Classification
Natural Synthetic
 Emery  Aluminium Oxide

 Garnet  Silicon Carbide

 Corundum  Boron Carbide

 Quartz  Boron Nitride

 Diamond  Diamond
A 60
Abrasive Materials
Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN)
Diamond
Silicon carbide (SiC) dark
Silicon carbide (SiC) green
Sintered corundum (Sol Gel)
Regular corundum (Al2O3)
Semi pure corundum (Al2O3)
Pure corundum white(Al2O3)
Pure corundum pink (Al2O3)
Pure corundum ruby (Al2O3)
Monocrystalline corundum
(Al2O3)
M 6 V CNM
very hard, highly resistant, high-performance
extremely hard, highly pressure-resistant, heat-sensitive
tough, chips somewhat block-like, pressure-resistant, high-
performance
less tough, chips very readily, high-performance
chips extremely readily under pressure, high-performance
hard and tough, pressure-resistant, chips block-like (grained)
hard, but less tough than regular corundum, chips sharply
hard and brittle, chips sharply and randomly
very hard, brittle, resistant to edge tear and impact, chips
sharply
very hard, resistant to edge tear and impact, chips sharply
very hard, tougher than white aluminium oxide, chips block-like
to sharply
A 60 M 6 V CNM
CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride)

In 1969 General Electric launched Cubic Boron Nitride –

called CBN for short – on to the market under the brand
name "BORAZON" as a revolutionary development in the
field of superabrasives.
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Properties of CBN

Hardness
• 4,700 N/mm2 on Knoop Scale (it is more than a half of
the hardness of the Diamond)

Thermal Properties
• High Thermal Stability
• High Oxidation Point (1,400ºC)
• High Thermal Conductivity (Approx 5 times of the
Copper)
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Sintered Corundum (Sol Gel )
The newest member of the abrasives family is Sintered Corundum.

Features of SG Wheels
1. It does not become Blunt because of extremely smaller Grain
Size (20 to 50 times smaller as compared to conventional)

2. These tiny grains fracture continuously during Grinding

process resulting in increased skip dressing (GW life 5 ~ 10
times as compared to conventional)

3. It requires high pressure for fracturing process resulting in

Higher Material Removal Rates
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Designations

A - Corundums (including Sintered Corundums, SG)

(Aluminum Oxide)

ZA - Zirconia Alumina (Zirconium Oxide + Aluminum Oxide)

C - Silicon Carbide (Silica + Petroleum Coke)

B - CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride)

D - Diamond
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Designation
CB CBN (cubic boron nitride)
D Diamond
61A Pink aluminium oxide
62A White aluminium oxide
63A Pink/Ruby aluminium oxide
64A Ruby aluminium oxide
66A Pink aluminium oxide / Regular corundum
71A Monocrystalline corundum
72A Regular corundum
79A Ruby aluminium oxide / Monocrystalline corundum
81A White/Ruby aluminium oxide
82A Semi pure corundum / White aluminium oxide
84A White/Ruby aluminium oxide/ Monocrystalline corundum
86A Pink/Ruby aluminium oxide / Monocrystalline ccorundum
88A White/Ruby aluminium oxide
92A White aluminium oxide / Monocrystalline corundum
500A - 550A Ceralox (Sintered corundum)
31C Green silicon carbide (pale green)
33C Dark silicon carbide (black)
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Hardness Comparison
Diamond 7000
CBN 4700
Vanadium Carbide 2500
Silicon Carbide 2400 KNOOP
Aluminium Oxide 2100 HARDNESS
Tungsten Carbide 1900 N/mm2
Silicon Nitride 1800
Zirconium Oxide 1500
Hardened Steel (65 HRC) 825
Ferrite 550
Glass 500
Soft Steel (85 HRB) 185

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

A 60 M 6 V CNM
Grit Size
It is the size of the abrasive grain measured by
the number of openings per linear inch in the
screen used to size the grain.

COARSE TO FINE
8 16 36 70 120 240
10 20 46 80 150 280
12 24 54 90 180 320
14 30 60 100 220 400

Higher grit size number means finer gain

size
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Gain Size in µm
Grit Size Size in µm Grit Size Size in µm
8 2380 - 2830 100 125 - 149
10 2000 - 2380 120 105 - 125
12 1680 - 2000 150 88 - 105
14 1410 - 1680 180 74 - 88
16 1190 - 1410 200 62 - 74
20 1000 - 1190 220 53 - 62
24 710 - 840 240 45 - 53
30 590 - 710 280 37 - 45
36 500 - 590 320 31 - 37
46 350 - 420 400 27 - 31
54 250 - 350 500 22 - 27
60 250 - 297 600 18 - 22
70 210 - 250 800 11 - 15
80 177 - 210 1000 8 - 11
90 149 - 177 1200 5-8
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Hardness or Grade
It is the Strength of the bond which holds the
grains in a wheel.
Generally, the greater the amount of bond used,
the harder the wheel.
Code Hardness
A - D Extremely Soft
E - F Very Soft
G - I Soft
J - M Medium-Hard
N - Q Hard
R - T Very Hard
U - Z Extremely Hard
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Structure

The structure or the grain spacing, is

determined by the proportion and arrangement
of abrasive grains and bond. When the abrasive
grains are close together, the wheel structure is
`dense’

DENSE TO OPEN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Bonds

The bond is one of the main elements of a grinding tool

since it holds all the wheel constituents together.

1. Bond should be chemically inert. It should not react with

the coolant

2. It should be thermally stable

3. The Bond determines the Hardness of the Wheel

A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Bonds
There are 4 main type of bonds :-

1. Vitrified Bond – V : capable of a high rate of stock removal

in precision grinding operations. This bond is not effected by
high temp. or by water or oils.

Speed Limit – 33 meters per second.

2. Resinoid Bond – B : are strong enough to withstand shock

and hence are widely used for severe grinding operations like
portable grinding, roll grinding, cam grinding, etc. & for
cutting operations.

Speed limit – 35 to 80 meters per second.

A 60 M 6 V CNM
Abrasive Bonds

3. Rubber Bond – R : provide a slight cushioning action, which

helps in obtaining a high finish along with dimensional
accuracy. These are mostly used as regulating wheels for
centre-less grinding and for grinding bearing races.

4. Shellac Bond – E : are used for finish grinding of rolls and

razor blades and in some cutting-off applications.