Grinding Characteristics of Directionally Aligned SiC Whisker Wheel (Comparison with Al2O3 Fiber Wheel)

Abstract

One of the authors invented a unique SiC whisker wheel in which the whiskers were aligned normally to the grinding wheel surface. In this paper, grindabilities of the SiC whisker wheel are investigated and compared with those of other wheels of SiC grains, Al2O3 grains, as well as Al2O3 long and short fibers which were also aligned normally to the grinding wheel surface, respectively. The main research contents grinding characteristics of a directionally aligned SiC whisker wheel such as material-removal rates, wheel-wear rates, integrity of the ground surfaces, grinding ratios and grinding efficiency. Furthermore, grinding wheels of whiskers and fibers have a common disadvantage : they tend to load easily. The authors introduced a simple method of loading-free grinding to overcome this propensity and investigate some related grinding characteristics under loading -free grinding conditions. © 1999, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All rights reserved.