BMFS 2613

MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

Abrasive Machining and Finishing Operations

Dr.Liew Pay Jun

Department of Process
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering

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 Chapter Outline
• Introduction
• Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives
• The Grinding Process
• Grinding Operations and Machines
• Design Considerations for Grinding
 Introduction
• Some manufacturing processes
cannot produce the required
dimensional accuracy or surface finish
• An abrasive is a small, hard particle
having sharp edges and an irregular
shape
• Abrasives is removing of small
amounts of material from a surface
through a cutting process that
produces tiny chips
• Grinding wheels can sharpen
knives and tools
• Sandpaper or emery cloth can
smoothen surfaces and remove
sharp corners

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives
• Abrasives that are commonly used:
1. Conventional abrasives ( Alumina, SiC)
2. Superabrasives (CBN, Diamond)
• Above abrasives are harder than conventional cutting-
tool materials
• Cubic boron nitride and diamond are the two hardest
materials known; referred to as superabrasives
• Friability defined as the ability of abrasive grains to
fracture into smaller pieces

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives

Abrasive Types
• Commonly found in nature are emery, corundum
(alumina), quartz, garnet and diamond
• Abrasives that have been made synthetically:
1. Aluminum oxide
2. Seeded gel
3. Silicon carbide
4. Cubic boron nitride
5. Diamond

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives

Abrasive Grain Size

• Abrasives are very small when compared to the size of
cutting tools and inserts
• Abrasives have sharp edges and allow removal of
small quantities of material
• Very fine surface finish and dimensional accuracy can
be obtained using abrasives as tools
• Size of an abrasive grain is identified by a grit number
• Smaller the grain size, larger the grit number

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives:
Grinding Wheels
• Each abrasive grain removes only a very small amount
of material at a time
• High rates of material removal can be achieved when
large number of these grains act together
• Done by using bonded abrasives

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives:
Grinding Wheels
• Due to their high cost, only a small volume wheels
consists of superabrasives
• Bonded abrasives are indicated by the type of abrasive,
grain size, grade, structure, and bond type

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives:
Bond Types
• Common types of bonds:
1. Vitrified:
– Consist of feldspar (crystalline mineral) and clays
– Strong, stiff, porous, and resistant to oils acids, and
water
2. Resinoid:
– Bonding materials are thermosetting resins
– Resinoid wheels are more flexible than vitrified
wheels

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 Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives:
Bond Types
3. Reinforced Wheels:
– Consist of layers of fiberglass mats of various mesh
sizes
4. Thermoplastic:
– Used in grinding wheels
– With sol-gel abrasives bonded with thermoplastics
5. Rubber:
- Used to make thin wheel
3. Metal:
– Using powder-metallurgy techniques
– Lower in cost and are used for small production
quantities

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 The Grinding Process
• Grinding is a chip-removal process that uses an
individual abrasive grain as the cutting tool

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 The Grinding Process
Grinding Forces
• Knowledge of grinding forces is essential for:
1. Estimating power requirements
2. Designing grinding machines and work-holding fixtures
and devices.
3. Determining the deflections that the workpiece

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 The Grinding Process
• In surface grinding, undeformed chip length and
thickness is approximated by equation

 4v  d 
l  Dd t   
 VCr  D 

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• Let D= 200 mm , d = 0.05mm, v = 30m/min,
V= 1800m/min, C=2 per mm2 and r = 15

Calculate l and t
I = 3.2 mm
t = 0.006mm

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding-wheel Wear
Attritious Grain Wear
• Similar to flank wear in cutting tools
• Cutting edges become dull and develop a wear flat
• Selection of abrasive is based on the reactivity of the
grain, workpiece hardness and toughness

Grain Fracture
• The grain should fracture at a moderate rate
• So that new sharp cutting edges are produced
continuously during grinding

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Bond fracture
•If bond too strong, dull grains cannot be
dislodged
•If the bond too weak, the grains dislodged
easily, wear rate increases.

So hard material, soft bonds or hard bond?

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Ratio
• Grinding ratio is defined as

Volume of material removed

G
Volume of wheel wear

• Higher the force, greater the tendency for the grains to

fracture
• Higher the wheel wear, lower the grinding ratio

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 The Grinding Process:
Dressing, Truing, and Shaping of Grinding Wheels

• Dressing is the process of:

1. Conditioning
2. Truing
• Dressing is required for dulls wheel or when the wheel
becomes loaded
• Loading occurs when the porosities on the wheel
surfaces become filled with chips from the workpiece
• Dressing techniques and their frequency affect grinding
forces and workpiece surface finish
• Grinding wheels can be shaped to the form to be
ground on the workpiece

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 The Grinding Process:
Grindability of Materials and Wheel Selection

• Grindability of materials is a general indicator of how

easy it is to grind a material
• Include quality of the surface produced, surface finish,
surface integrity, wheel wear, cycle time, and overall
economics of the operation
• Wheel selection involves shape of the wheel, shape of
the part to be produced and characteristics of the
workpiece material

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

• Selection of a grinding process and machine depends

on the workpiece shape and features, size, ease of
fixturing, and production rate required
• Relative movement of the wheel may be along the
surface of the workpiece or move radially into the
workpiece

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

Surface Grinding
• Surface grinding involve the grinding of flat surfaces
• Workpiece is secured on a magnetic chuck attached to
the worktable of the grinder
• Traverse grinding is where the table reciprocates
longitudinally and is fed laterally after each stroke.
• In plunge grinding, it involves the wheel moving
radically into the workpiece
• Vertical spindles and rotary tables allow a number of
pieces to be ground in one setup

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines
Cylindrical Grinding
• The external cylindrical surfaces and shoulders of
workpieces are ground
• Rotating cylindrical workpiece reciprocates laterally
along its axis to cover the width to be ground
• Capable of grinding rolls with large diameter

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

Cylindrical Grinding
• Thread grinding is done on cylindrical grinders using
specially dressed wheels matching the shape of the
threads

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

EXAMPLE 26.3
Cycle Patterns in Cylindrical Grinding
• Cycle patterns for a CNC precision grinder

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

Internal Grinding
• A small wheel is used to grind the inside diameter of
the part
• Internal profiles is ground with profile-dressed wheels
that move radially into the workpiece

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

Creep-feed Grinding
• Grinding can also be used for large-scale metal-
removal operations to compete with milling, broaching
and planing
• In creep-feed grinding, the wheel depth of cut, d, is big
and the workpiece speed is low
• To keep workpiece temperatures low and improve
surface finish, the wheels are softer grade resin bonded
and have an open structure

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Operations and Machines

Grinding Fluids
• Importance of using a fluid:
1. Reduces temperature rise in the workpiece
2. Improves part surface finish and dimensional accuracy
3. Improves the efficiency of the operation
• Grinding fluids are
water-based emulsions for
grinding and oils for
thread grinding

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Chatter

• Chatter adversely affects surface finish and wheel

performance
• Chatter marks on ground surfaces can be identified
from:
1. Bearings and spindles of the grinding machine
2. Non-uniformities in the grinding wheel
3. Uneven wheel wear
4. Poor dressing techniques
5. Using grinding wheels that are not balanced properly
6. External sources

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Chatter

• Ways to reduce the tendency for chatter in grinding:

1. Using soft-grade wheels
2. Dressing the wheel frequently
3. Changing dressing techniques
4. Reducing the material-removal rate
5. Supporting the workpiece rigidly

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 The Grinding Process:
Grinding Chatter

Safety in Grinding Operations

• Grinding wheels are brittle and when rotate at high
speeds, they can fracture and cause serious injury
• There must be care in handling, storage and usage of
grinding wheels
• Damage to a grinding wheel can reduce its bursting
speed severely

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 Design Considerations for Grinding

• Specific attention should be given to:

1. Parts should be designed so that they can be mounted
securely
2. Interrupted surfaces should be avoided as they can
cause vibrations and chatter
3. Parts for cylindrical grinding should be balanced
4. Short pieces should be avoided as they may be difficult
to grind
5. Design kept simple to avoid frequent form dressing of
the wheel
6. Holes should be avoided

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1. Which of the following grinding wheel will have
very fine grain size?
a) A 46 K 5 B 17
b) C 600 K 5 B 17
c) C 8 K 5 B 17
d) A 80 K 5 B 17
2. Removing dull grains in order to make grinding
wheel sharp is known as
a) Loading
b) Glazing
c) Dressing
d) Trueing

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3. Which of the following grinding machine will give
better result for rough machining?
a) Fine grain
b) Very fine grain
c) Coarse grain
d) None of the mentioned
4. Material removal rate of grinding process in
comparison to material removal rate in facing on lathe
is
a) Small
b) Large
c) Same
d) Can’t say about material removal rate
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5. Material removal rate in grinding operation is small
due to
a) Only small portion of abrasives are involved in cutting
b) Positive rake angle
c) Zero rake angle
d) Material removal rate does not depend on rake angle

6. Friability of grinding wheel is associated to

a) Hardness
b) Fracture
c) Size
d) None of the mentioned

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7. Loss in sharpness of grinding wheel due to presence of
chips in gaps of grains is termed as
a) Loading
b) Glazing
c) Dressing
d) Trueing

8. With time, grinding wheel starts rubbing work piece

instead of cutting, due to decrease in sharpness. This
phenomenon is known as
a) Loading
b) Glazing
c) Dressing
d) Trueing
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9. In creep-feed grinding, the wheel depth of cut,
d, is big and the workpiece speed is low
a.True
b.False

10. Ways to reduce the tendency for chatter in

grinding:
a.Using soft-grade wheels
b.Dressing the wheel frequently
c. Changing dressing techniques
d. All of the above
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