Study on the ELID Grinding Forces of Ceramics and Steels

Abstract

Grinding forces are very important phenomenon of grinding process. The higher grinding forces show more difficult removing material from workpiece surface. Ceramics is typical brittle material and metal is important ductile materials. These materials have different use due to their physical and mechanical properties. Through the comparative study of ELID (ELectrolytic In-process Dressing) grinding on ceramics and metals, a more thorough knowledge about grinding mechanism may be acquired. But there are few researchers to study on the ELID grinding forces of ceramics and metals on the same experiment. The present experiment was carried out on a surface grinder. Four kinds of material were selected, such as SiC, ZrO₂, SKD11 and STAVAX. In grinding process, grinding forces were measured by a three-component forces dynamometer. Fx, Fy, and Fz were respectively in the direction of longitudinal feed, traverse feed and grinding depth of abrasive wheel. On the same conditions, grinding forces of SKD11 and STAVAX were greater than that of SiC and ZrO₂.