Material Removal Processes

Grinding and Other Abrasive

Processes
Material Removal Processes
 Abrasive Machining
 Material removal by action of hard, abrasive particles
usually in the form of a bonded wheel

 Generally used as finishing operations after part geometry

has been established by conventional machining

Why they are important?

 They can be used on all types of materials ranging from
soft metals to hardened steels and hard nonmetallic
materials such as ceramics and silicon.

 Extremely fine surface finishes (0.025 µm).

 Examples
 (a)A steel injection molding die is machined by
milling. The surface finish must be improved for better
plastic flow.

 (b) The internal surface of the cylinders of a car

engine are turned on a lathe. The surface is then made
smooth by grinding, followed by honing and lapping to
get an extremely good, mirror-like finish.

 (c) Sand-paper is used to smooth a rough cut piece of

wood.
Abrasive Grinding Machines
 Types of Abrasive Machining Processes

Grinding
Honing
Lapping
Superfinishing
Polishing
Buffing
 Grinding
 Material removal process in which abrasive particles are
contained in a bonded grinding wheel that operates at very
high surface speeds
 Grinding wheel usually disk‑shaped and precisely balanced
for high rotational speeds
 Cutting occurs on either the periphery or the face of the
grinding wheel, similar to peripheral and face milling.
 Difference between grinding and milling
 The abrasive grains in the wheel are much smaller and
more numerous than the teeth on a milling cutter.
 Cutting speeds in grinding are much higher than in
milling.
 The abrasive grits in a grinding wheel are randomly
oriented.
 A grinding wheel is self-sharpening
 Particles on becoming dull either fracture to create new cutting
edges or are pulled out of the surface of the wheel to expose
new grains.
 Grinding Wheel Parameters
 Type of Abrasive material
 Grain size
 Wheel grade
 Wheel structure
 Bonding material
 Type of Abrasive material
General properties of abrasive materials are
High hardness
Wear resistance
Toughness
Friability
 It is the ability of the abrasive material to fracture
(tendency to crumble), when the cutting of the grain
becomes dull, thereby exposing a new cutting edge (sharp
cutting edge).
Type of Abrasive material
 Grain Size
 The grain size of the abrasive particle is important in
determining surface finish and material-removal rate.
Grain size Surface finish
Grain size Material-removal

 Grain size is expressed in terms of a SIEVE NUMBER, Sn

which corresponds to the number of openings per linear inch.
Sieve No. Type of Grain
10-24 Coarse
30-60 Medium
70-180 Fine
220-600 Very Fine
 The diameter of an abrasive grain is given by
 Grinding Wheel Structure
The volumetric proportions of grains, bond material, and pores can be
expressed as
Pg + Pb + Pp = 1.0
where,
Pg = proportion of abrasive grains in the total wheel volume,
Pb = proportion of bond material, and
Pp = proportion of pores (air gaps).

“open” and “dense”

An open structure is one in which Pp is relatively large, and Pg is relatively
small. That is, there are more pores and fewer grains per unit volume in a
wheel of open structure.
 A dense structure is one in which Pp is relatively small, and Pg is larger.
 Grinding Wheel Structure

“Open” and “dense”

In what conditions these

structures be provided?
 Wheel Grade
 Indicates the strength of the binding material.
 A-H – Soft Wheel
 J-P – Medium Wheel
 Q-Z – Hard Wheel

 When the work material is hard, the grains wear out

easily and the sharpness of the cutting edges is quickly
lost. This is known as WHEEL GLAZING.

 To avoid this problem, a soft wheel should be used.

 Bonding Materials
 The bonding material holds the particles in place and build
the shape and structure of the wheel.
 It is important for the bonding material to be softer than the
abrasive.
 The desirable properties of bonding materials are
 Strength (withstand centrifugal forces)
 Toughness (resist shattering in shock loads)
 Hardness
 Temperature resistance (withstand high temperature)
 Hold abrasive material in place rigidly to accomplish the cutting forces
while allowing the grain that are worn to be dislodged so that new
grains can be exposed.
 Bonding Materials

S
R
B
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIs8IynfTuU
Grinding Wheel Specification
Grinding Wheel Shapes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3-viu3Itio
 Grinding operations
 Grinding is traditionally used to finish parts
whose geometries have already been created
by other operations.
 surface grinding
 cylindrical grinding
 centerless grinding
 creep feed grinding
 Surface Grinding
 Performed using either the
periphery or the flat
surface of the grinding
wheel (face grinding).
 The peripheral grinding is
performed with a
horizontal axis
machines, while the face
grinding is performed with
a vertical axis machines,
as shown in the figure.
Note: The direction of the cross
(a) horizontal spindle with reciprocating worktable, (b)
feed and in-feed horizontal spindle with rotating worktable, (c) vertical spindle
with reciprocating worktable, and (d) vertical spindle with
rotating worktable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrHQRhJ4yuc
 Cylindrical Grinding
 External cylindrical
grinding
External cylindrical grinding
(also called center-type grinding
to distinguish it from centerless
grinding) is performed much like
a turning operation. The feed
motions are either traverse feed
(the wheel or workpiece or both)
or plunge cut.
The parts include axles,
crankshafts, spindles, bearings
and bushings,
 Internal cylindrical
grinding
like a boring operation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGJY35PMbsM
 Centerless Grinding
 Centerless grinding is an
alternative process for
grinding external and
internal cylindrical
surfaces.
 As its name suggests, the
workpiece is not held
between centers. This
results in a reduction in
work handling time;
hence, centerless grinding
is often used for high
production work
 such as a roller bearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VJuj0955nQ
 Creep Feed Grinding
 A relatively new form of grinding is creep feed grinding, developed around
1958. Creep feed grinding is performed at very high depths of cut and very
low feed rates; hence, the name creep feed
 Depths of cut in creep feed grinding are 1000 to 10,000 times greater than in
conventional surface grinding, and the feed rates are reduced by about the
same proportion.
 Advantages of creep feed grinding
(1) high material-removal rates, (2) improved accuracy for formed surfaces, and (3)
reduced temperatures at the work surface
 Honing
 Honing is an abrasive process performed
by a set of bonded abrasive sticks
 Honing is a finishing operation used to
improve the internal cylindrical surface
 Honing speeds are 15 to 150 m/min
 Grit sizes in honing range between 30 and
600.
 The amount of material removed from the
work surface during a honing operation
may be as much as 0.5 mm (0.020 in)
Applications
Bores of internal combustion engine,
bearings, hydraulic cylinders, and gun
barrels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az-El3QHSlE
 Lapping
 Used to produce surface finish of extreme accuracy and smoothness.
 It used a fluid suspension of very small abrasive particles (in oils or
kerosene) between the work and the lapping tool.
 Common abrasives are aluminum oxide and silicon carbide with grit
size between 300 and 600.
 The tool takes the inverse shape of the work part.
Applications
Used in production of optical lenses, metallic bearing surface, and gages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6doeORtYeU4
 Superfinishing
Similar to honing but differs from honing in the following respects
The strokes are shorter, 5 mm (3/16 in)
Higher frequencies are used, up to 1500 strokes per minute
Lower pressures are applied between the tool and the surface,
below 0.28 MPa (40 lb/in2)
Workpiece speeds are lower, 15 m/min (50ft/min) or less
Grit sizes are generally smaller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAGuHDlLdGM
 Polishing and Buffing
 Polishing is used to remove scratches and
burrs and smooth rough surfaces by means
of abrasive grains attached to the polishing
wheel rotating at high speed around 2250
m/min.
 The wheels are somewhat flexible wheel,
is made of leather, canvas, felt and
papers.
 Grit size of 20 to 80 for rough, 90 to 120 for
finish and above 120 for fine finishing.
 Buffing is similar to polishing with softer
wheels, finer abrasive materials.
 Buffing is used to provide attractive
surfaces with high luster.
 Speed ranging from 2400 to 5100 m/min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIT63GHhOC8