Topographical characterization and wear behavior of diamond wheel at different processing stages in grinding of N-BK7 optical glass

A systematic study has been performed to investigate the topography and wear characteristics of diamond wheel at different processing stages in grinding of N-BK7 optical glass, including manufacturing, truing, sharpening and grinding. The morphology of the abrasive grains, protrusion height and density were quantitatively evaluated. Moreover, the wear modes of diamond grits, including micro-fracture, macro-fracture, pull-outs and attritious wear, were analyzed based on a comprehensive wear model. The topography disparity at different processing stages is attributed to the microscopic difference of wear mechanism of diamond grits. Interestingly, three wear regions (initial/steady/deteriorated wear) occur during multi-pass grinding, and the most dominant wear behaviors of these three regions are separately macro-fracture and pull-out, micro-fracture and attritious wear, pull-out and wheel loading.