Title: ELID dressing behaviour of fine grained bronze bonded diamond grinding wheels

Authors: Fritz Klocke, Andreas Klink, Marcel Henerichs

Addresses: Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 19, Aachen, 52074, Germany. ' Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 19, Aachen, 52074, Germany. ' Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 19, Aachen, 52074, Germany

Abstract: The application of metal bonded grinding wheels generally results in high wear resistance and profile constancies of the grinding wheels. Especially bronze bonded grinding wheels can efficiently be used for the grinding tasks, as it is easier to modify their chemical composition – and therefore their bond hardness – to suit a specific grinding task. The combination of very small grained diamonds and a metal bond causes great difficulties for conventional dressing. In this paper, an assessment on the capabilities of ELID for dressing of bronze bonded diamond grinding wheels is presented. Distinct types of bronze-bonds with different chemical composition are investigated regarding their electrochemical dissolution and oxidation behaviour during ELID. Iron-based (Fe-Bz) and cobalt-based (Co-Bz) bronze-bond types showed good performance regarding oxide layer formation during the pre-dressing. An extensive oxide layer growth prevents the metal bond from a too fast anodic dissolution. In contrast, pure bronze type (Cu-Bz) showed no closed oxide layer formation resulting in an extensive anodic dissolution of the grinding wheel bond.

Keywords: electrolytic in-process dressing; ELID; diamond grinding wheels; metal bond; bronze bond; electrochemical dressing; oxidation; passivation; electrochemical machining; ECM; abrasives; abrasive technology; wear resistance; profile constancy; anodic dissolution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2009.029094

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2009 Vol.2 No.4, pp.358 - 367

Received: 02 Sep 2008
Accepted: 18 Feb 2009
Published online: 03 Nov 2009 *

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