Influence of microstructures of binder and abrasive grain on selected operational properties of ceramic grinding wheels made of alumina

The operational properties of ceramic abrasive tools made of alundum and submicrocrystalline alumina with advanced binders have been investigated. The traditional glass binders were replaced with the glass-crystalline binders where augite (Ca(Mg,Fe)[Si2O6] and gahnite ZnAl2O4 constituted the basic crystalline phase. The occurrence of such crystalline phases causes such binders to wear in the course of grinding in a similar way to the mechanism of submicrocrystalline-grain wear. It exerts a beneficial influence on the radial wear of grinding wheels (DeltaR), the metal removal rate (G) and the arithmetic mean roughness value (Ra). These parameters depend not only on the binder structure, amorphous or glass-crystalline, but also on the microstructure of abrasive grains and the grinding speed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.