Influence of the Manufacturing Process on the Local Properties of Bronze-Bonded Grinding Tools

The process behavior of a grinding tool is defined by the sum of interactions between the active abrasive grains and the workpiece. These interactions depend on the workpiece material, the manipulated parameters of the grinding process, and the tool properties. The tool properties are defined within the tool manufacturing process. In this context, the effects of the abrasive, the bond, and the sinter process on the global properties such as hardness, porosity, and fracture strength of the grinding layer are content of several research works. In contrast to this, the effects on the local properties, which define the grain/bond interface and therefore the process behavior at microscopic scale, have not yet been identified. This paper deals with identifying the influence of the sintering process on the local properties of the grinding layer. This is achieved by investigating the densification as well as the bond microstructure depending on the sintering parameters and on the specification of the initial mixture. As a use case, the bronze bond is considered. The results show that the input parameters have a significant impact on the homogeneity of the grinding layer. Due to the diffusion processes during sintering, there are densification gradients as well as tin concentration gradients in the grinding layer. The local tin concentration gradients imply different local mechanical and thermal properties. For this reason, each abrasive grain has unique interface properties.