Porous Metal Bonds Increase the Resource Efficiency for Profile Grinding

Profile grinding is irreplaceable for the machining of various brittle and hard workpieces, e.g. cutting tools for milling and drilling, seal components made of ceramics and bearing components. Grinding is rather inefficient regarding the energy demand for the machining of one volume element of material compared to other manufacturing processes. However, the process forces can be reduced without influencing the tool wear by using grinding wheels with a porous metal bond and grains that tend to splinter. This allows higher material removal rates without increasing the process forces, ultimately reducing the energy consumption per workpiece manufactured. Additionally thermal and mechanical loads on the workpiece are reduced leading to increased life cycles of grinded products. The application of these grinding wheels is currently on hold for profile grinding since the dressing process is not in control. Therefore, this paper investigates the dressing operation for grinding wheels with a porous metal bond in order to reduce the energy consumption in profile grinding of brittle and hard materials.