Application of shallow circumferential grooved wheels to creep-feed grinding

A single-point diamond dressing tool was used to cut shallow circumferential groove on aluminum oxide grinding wheels. Creep-feed grinding experiments were then carried out to compare the performance of these grooved wheels with a non-grooved wheel. The results showed that, for the conditions used in this research, a grooved wheel could remove twice as much material as a non-grooved wheel before workpiece burn occurred. The results also showed that a grooved wheel can improve grinding efficiency by reducing the consumed power by up to 61%. Although the use of grooved grinding wheels caused the workpiece surface roughness to increase slightly when compared to a non-grooved wheel, the grooved wheel enabled up to 37% more material to be removed while still maintaining workpiece surface roughness values below 0.3 mu m ("fine quality" surface finish), and up to 120% more material to be removed while still maintaining workpiece surface roughness values below 1.6 mu m ("average quality" surface finish). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.