skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Innovative grinding wheel design for cost-effective machining of advanced ceramics. Phase I, final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/374170· OSTI ID:374170

Norton Company successfully completed the 16-month Phase I technical effort to define requirements, design, develop, and evaluate a next-generation grinding wheel for cost-effective cylindrical grinding of advanced ceramics. This program was a cooperative effort involving three Norton groups representing a superabrasive grinding wheel manufacturer, a diamond film manufacturing division and a ceramic research center. The program was divided into two technical tasks, Task 1, Analysis of Required Grinding Wheel Characteristics, and Task 2, Design and Prototype Development. In Task 1 we performed a parallel path approach with Superabrasive metal-bond development and the higher technical risk, CVD diamond wheel development. For the Superabrasive approach, Task 1 included bond wear and strength tests to engineer bond-wear characteristics. This task culminated in a small-wheel screening test plunge grinding sialon disks. In Task 2, an improved Superabrasive metal-bond specification for low-cost machining of ceramics in external cylindrical grinding mode was identified. The experimental wheel successfully ground three types of advanced ceramics without the need for wheel dressing. The spindle power consumed by this wheel during test grinding of NC-520 sialon is as much as to 30% lower compared to a standard resin bonded wheel with 100 diamond concentration. The wheel wear with this improved metal bond was an order of magnitude lower than the resin-bonded wheel, which would significantly reduce ceramic grinding costs through fewer wheel changes for retruing and replacements. Evaluation of ceramic specimens from both Tasks 1 and 2 tests for all three ceramic materials did not show evidence of unusual grinding damage. The novel CVD-diamond-wheel approach was incorporated in this program as part of Task 1. The important factors affecting the grinding performance of diamond wheels made by CVD coating preforms were determined.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Norton Co., Worcester, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-96OR22464
OSTI ID:
374170
Report Number(s):
ORNL/Sub-93-SM037/1; ON: DE96015150; TRN: 96:005317
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English