ABRASIVE MACHINING AND

FINISHING PROCESSES
 Abrasive machining
• Used for getting high dimensional accuracy
and very fine surface finish
• Hard materials are hard to machine using
the processes that are mentioned earlier.
Those can be machined by using abrasive
machining processes
 Abrasive
• It is a small, non-metallic hard particle
having sharp edges and an irregular shape
• Capable of removing very small amounts of
material
• Used to grind, hone, lap, buff, and polish
workpiece
• Harder than the conventional tools
Bonded abrasives
 Commonly used abrasives
• Conventional abrasives
– Aluminum Oxide
– Silicon Oxide
• Superabrasives
– Cubic Boron Nitride
– Diamond
• Synthetic abrasives
 Properties of abrasives
• Hardness
• Friability
– Ability of abrasive grains to fracture or break
down into smaller pieces.
– Gives the self-sharpening property
– High friability indicates low strength and the
grain fragments more rapidly under the
grinding forces
– Affected by shape and size of the abrasive
 Grinding process
• It is a chip removal process that uses an
individual abrasive grain as the cutting tool
• Uses bonded abrasives or grinding wheels
• Feed and depth of cut are low and cutting
speeds are very high
Typical Grinding Wheel
 Difference between grain and a
single point cutting tool actions
• The individual abrasive grains have
irregular shapes and are spaced randomly
along the periphery of wheel
• The average rake angle of the grains is
highly negative, such as -60 degrees
• The radial positions of the grains vary
• Cutting speeds are very high, around 30 m/s
Construction of grinding wheel
• Abrasive grains are held together by a
bonding material that acts as the supporting
post between the grains.
• Some, porosity is essential to provide the
clearance for the minute chips and to
provide coolant flow
• The grits which gets worn out will break
and the new sharp edge will be formed
Grinding wheel
Common grinding wheel types
 Characteristics of a grinding
wheel
• Grit or grain size
– It identifies the size of an abrasive grain
– Larger the grain size, lesser the surface finish
• Grade
– Refers to the tenacity or strength of the bond between
abrasive grains and bonding material
• Structure
– Refers to the relative spacing
– Denoted by number of cutting edges per unit area
– To provide chip clearance and coolant flow
Dressing
Selection of grinding wheel
• Coarse grit is used for rough surface finish
and faster grinding
• For harder materials, softer wheel is used
and for softer materials, harder wheel is
used.
• Open structure is used for ductile materials
and closed structure is used for hard and
brittle materials
 Specification of the wheel
• Code number
• Abrasive type – A, C or D
• Grain size – 10 to 600
• Grade – A to Z
• Structure – 0 to 16
• Bond – V, B, S, R, E
• Manufacturer’s record
 Grinding ratio
• An abrasive grain have finite life due to
– Gradual wear of its sharp edges i.e. attrition wear
– Fracture of grains
– Fracture of bond
• Grinding wheel wears more rapidly than the
cutting tools
• Grinding ratio is given by the ratio of volume of
work material removed to volume of wheel worn
away
Centerless grinding
 Grinding machines
• Surface grinding machines
– Vertical
– Horizontal
– universal
• Cylindrical grinding machines
• Internal grinding machines
• Tool grinding machines etc……
 Finishing operations
• Done by fine abrasive grains
• Contributes significantly to production time
and product cost. Thus, they should be
carried out wherever required only
• Material removal is very low
 Honing
• Used primarily to give holes a fine surface
finish
• Honing tool consists of a set of aluminum
oxide or silicon carbide bonded abrasives
called stones mounted on a mandrel that
rotates in the hole
• Can also be done on external cylindrical or
flat surfaces
 Contd ……
• The fineness of surface finish can be
controlled by the type and size of the
abrasive used and pressure applied
• A fluid is used to remove chips and to
maintain low temperatures
• Superfinishing – very light pressure
Honing stone and superfinishing
 Lapping
• Use for flat and cylindrical surfaces
• The lap is made of cast iron, copper, leather,
or cloth embedded with abrasive particles
• Pressure ranges between 7KPa to 140KPa
depending on workpiece
• Dimensional tolerances of 0.0004 mm can
be achieved and surface finish can be as
smooth as 0.025 to 0.1 µm
Lapping processes
 Polishing
• Produces a smooth, lustrous surface
• 2 basic mechanisms are involved
– Fine scale abrasive removal
– Softening and smearing of surface layers by
frictional heating during lapping to produce
shiny surface
• Done by disks or belts made of fabric,
leather coated with abrasives
 Buffing
• Similar to polishing and used to produce
high lustre by abrading the surface to
remove scratches or to remove the oxide
layer.
• Carried out by holding the workpiece
against a rotating wheel
Economics of grinding and
finishing operations
 Surface finish in machining
• Ideal roughness
– Result of the geometry of the tool and the feed. It
is the minimum possible magnitude of the
unevenness results from an operation
• Natural roughness
– Roughness caused due to other factors like BUE,
vibration etc… which exists in practical
situations
 Ideal roughness
• Turning