Study on distribution characteristics of diamond particles under high-voltage electrostatic field

Distribution characteristics of diamond particles affect the grinding performance of grinding wheel in precision and ultra-precision grinding. In fact, distribution of diamond particles is un-uniform in most grinding wheels. A method for achieving uniform distribution of diamond particles by electrostatic spraying is proposed in this paper. A long-time stable diamond particle suspension is prepared by mixing kerosene and Tween80 mixture. Under different electrostatic voltage, there are three spraying modes including droplet mode, cone-jet mode, and multi-jet model. The influences of voltage, flow rate, and collection distance on the uniformity, distribution density, and distribution range of diamond particles are discussed. The diamond particles are counted by image processing including binarization, mesh partition, and particle counting. The experimental results have shown that the uniform distribution of diamond particles can be achieved by using electrostatic spraying method. In the conditions of voltage 6 kV, flow rate 5 mL/h, and collection distance 30 mm, a distribution deviation of 0.11 can be obtained. It is expected that this work will contribute to fabricating the high-performance grinding wheel with uniform diamond particles.