Laser dressing process of porous cast-iron bonded diamond grinding wheels for machining ceramics

Dressing using Yttrium Aluminum Garnet-Second Harmonic Generation (YAG-SHG) laser for porous cast-iron bonded diamond grinding wheels is a unique method. Diamond as an abrasive grain shows transparency with the laser, while cast-iron employed as a bonding and bridging material for the present diamond grinding wheels absorbs it. Hence, it is possible for laser to remove cast-iron selectively with a minimal damage on diamond so that dressing can be optimized. In this investigation a newly proposed dressing process using YAG-SHG laser with the wavelength of 532 nm was conducted upon porous cast-iron bonded diamond grinding wheels with fine grains. It revealed that application of laser for dressing evaporates cast-iron and the amount of evaporation increases with laser flux densities, resulting in an increment of protrusion heights. The wheel dressed with laser allows about six times of removal volume rate on ZrO2 at the maximum rather than the same wheel mechanically dressed. It also achieves 90 times less specific grinding energy. With the increase of laser flux density, the removal volume of ground work pieces can be increased or the specific grinding energy decreased. The laser dressed wheels can also achieve the same surface roughness on ground surfaces as mechanically dressed wheels. Copyright (2000) AD-TECH - International Foundation for the Advancement of Technology Ltd