MTM UNIT-6

GRINDING

Grinding: Introduction

• Grinding is a material removal process performed by a rotating abrasive wheel brought into
controlled contact with a work surface.
• In a grinding wheel, millions of microscopic abrasive grains are bonded together and each of
the abrasive grain act as a single point cutting tool and grinding wheel acts as a multipoint
cutting tool.
• Like any other tool, the grains lose their sharpness and as these abrasive grains wear and
become dull, the added resistance leads to fracture of the grains or weakening of their bond.
The dull grains break away, revealing sharp new grains that continue cutting.
• The grinding operation is used to finish the workpieces with extremely high quality of surface
finish. It provides very high dimensional accuracy and grinding of very hard material is also
possible.

Types of Grinding Machine

Rough Grinders:
Rough grinders remove material without any reference to the dimensional accuracy.
• Portable grinders
• Pedestal or bench grinders
• Abrasive belt grinders
• Swing Frame grinders
Precision Grinders:
Precision Grinders remove negligible amount of metal and used to produce finished parts with
very high dimensional accuracy.
• Surface Grinders
• Cylindrical Grinders (External, Internal and Centre less grinders)
• Tool and Cutter Grinders
• Special Grinders
Cylindrical Grinder

1. Construction of Cylindrical Grinding Machine

A cylindrical grinding machine is designed to produce external cylindrical surfaces, as well as
concentricity between the workpiece's outer diameter and rotational axis. The construction and
operation of this machine are similar to a centre lathe, but instead of a cutting tool, a rotating grinding
wheel is used for removing material from the workpiece.
Key components of a cylindrical grinding machine include:
1. Grinding Wheel:
o Wheel Head: Contains the grinding wheel that rotates at high speeds. This wheel is
typically mounted on a spindle, driven by a separate motor.
o Wheel Rotation: Both the grinding wheel and the workpiece rotate, but the
workpiece rotates much slower compared to the grinding wheel.
2. Workpiece Holding Mechanism:
o The workpiece is mounted between centres.
o The workpiece is usually driven by a dog or tailstock, with a hydraulic or mechanical
feed mechanism to position the workpiece relative to the grinding wheel.
o If the workpiece is wider than the grinding wheel, the wheel is moved transversely
across the surface for a smooth grind.
3. Hydraulic Feed Mechanism:
o The grinding machine often uses hydraulic mechanisms to feed the grinding wheel
towards the workpiece. This ensures the workpiece is fed precisely into the grinding
wheel for accurate material removal.
4. Traverse Mechanism:
o If the part is wider than the grinding wheel, the machine moves the wheel in the
transverse direction to ensure a full grinding pass.
5. Tool Post:
o The tool post holds the grinding wheel and provides stability during grinding
operations.
 o An independent power drive is used to rotate the grinding wheel.
6. Work Rest:
o The workpiece is supported by a work rest, which helps prevent deflection during
grinding.
o Work rests are especially critical for long workpieces to avoid any deformation during
the grinding process.

2. Working Principle of Cylindrical Grinding Machine

The working principle of a cylindrical grinding machine is based on the rotational movement of the
grinding wheel and the workpiece:
1. Rotational Movement:
o The grinding wheel rotates at a high speed and removes material from the workpiece
that is held securely between centres. The wheel and workpiece rotate in opposite
directions.
o The workpiece rotates slowly, while the grinding wheel rotates rapidly to ensure
efficient material removal.
2. Grinding Process:
o When the workpiece is mounted between centres, it rotates about its own axis.
o As the workpiece rotates, the grinding wheel makes contact with the surface of the
workpiece, removing fine layers of material.
o Plunge grinding is used when the diameter of the workpiece is the same or smaller
than the grinding wheel. The grinding wheel is fed straight into the workpiece.
o Traverse grinding is used when the workpiece is larger than the grinding wheel. The
grinding wheel is moved sideways (transversely) across the workpiece to ensure even
grinding.
3. Feed Mechanism:
o The feed for the grinding process is provided by the movement of the workpiece
relative to the grinding wheel.
o This feed is hydraulically controlled for precise movement and fine adjustments in
the grinding depth.
4. Wheel Feed:
o The wheel head is moved into the workpiece to gradually grind the surface. This
ensures a smooth, even finish across the workpiece's surface.
o After the initial pass, the wheel is adjusted for finer cuts, removing material until the
desired finish and dimensions are achieved.
5. Finishing and Precision:
o Very fine finishes can be achieved with cylindrical grinding. It is possible to achieve
accuracies of up to 0.25 mm with extreme care.
 o For high precision grinding, the hydraulic feed system and fine adjustment of the
wheel position ensure that the workpiece is ground to exact specifications.
6. Wheel Movement:
o As shown in the figure, the wheel is fed into the workpiece while the workpiece is
rotating. If the workpiece is wider than the grinding wheel, the grinding wheel is
moved across the surface to ensure the full surface is machined.

Surface Grinding

Surface grinding is used for generating flat surfaces and is commonly used for grinding operations in
machine shops. These machines work similarly to milling machines but focus on flat surfaces.
Types of Surface Grinding Machines:
1. Vertical Spindle and Rotating Table:
o The grinding wheel rotates vertically, while the table moves in a horizontal
direction. This is ideal for precision flat surface grinding.
2. Horizontal Spindle and Reciprocating Table:
o The spindle rotates horizontally, and the table moves back and forth. It is used for
general surface grinding on large workpieces.
3. Horizontal Spindle and Rotating Table:
o In this setup, the workpiece is rotated while the grinding wheel remains fixed in the
horizontal position. Used for uniform grinding.
4. Vertical Spindle and Reciprocating Table:
o Similar to the horizontal spindle type, but here, the spindle moves vertically and the
table reciprocates to perform precise surface grinding operations.
o
Centreless Grinding

Centreless grinding is a method used for grinding cylindrical workpieces without needing to fix the
workpiece between centres or in a chuck. The operation is carried out by using two rotating wheels:
one for grinding and the other for regulating the rotation of the workpiece.
Working Principle:
1. Grinding Wheel: The grinding wheel rotates at high speed and removes material from the
workpiece.
2. Regulating Wheel: A smaller regulating wheel is mounted at an angle to the grinding wheel.
It helps rotate the workpiece at the same speed as the grinding wheel.
3. Workpiece: The workpiece is placed on a work rest blade that supports it against the
regulating wheel and is rotated by the force of the regulating wheel. The workpiece rotates at
the same surface speed as that of the regulating wheel.
4. Axial Feed: The workpiece's axial feed is controlled by the tilt of the regulating wheel, which
determines the movement speed of the workpiece.

Wheel Specifications
Types of Bonds
Vitrified Bond ‘V’

• This bond is prepared by a mixing abrasive with of clay and water.

• This wheel posses a good strength and porosity to allow high stock removal with cool cutting.
But it is sensitive for heat, water, oil and acids. Their impact and bending strengths are also
low.
Silicate Bond ‘S’
 • Silicate bonds are made by mixing abrasive particles with silicate of soda or water glass.
These wheel exhibits water proofing properly so these can be used with coolant.
Shellac Bond ‘E’

• These are prepared by mixing abrasive with shellac.

• This bond exhibit greater elasticity than other bonds with appreciable strength.
• Grinding wheels having shellac bond are recommended for cool cutting on hardened steel and
thin sections, finishing of chilled iron, cast iron and steel rolls, hardened steel cams and to
make wheel for abrasive cutting off machines.
Resinoid Bond ‘B’

• These bonds are prepared by mixing abrasives with synthetic resins like Bakelite (Thermo-
setting resin).
• These wheels have good grinding capacity at higher speed. These are used for grinding of
cams, rolls and other objects where very high surface finishing and dimensional accuracy is
required.
Rubber Bond ‘R’

• Rubber bonded wheels are made by mixing abrasives with pure rubber and Sulphur.
• Rubber bonded wheels are more resilient and have larger abrasive density. These are used for
precision grinding and good surface finish.
• Rubber bond is also preferred for making thin wheels with good strength and toughness but
these are lesser heat resistant.
Oxychloride Bond ‘O’

• These bonds are processed by mixing abrasives with oxides and chlorides of magnesium.
These grinding wheels are used for disc grinding operations.

ABRASIVE TYPE

• This is an alphabet symbol used to indicate the name of abrasive used ‘A’ stands for
Aluminium Oxide and ‘C’ stands for Silicon Carbide.
Grain Size

• This number provides idea of grain size of abrasives. It is also called grit. Larger number
indicates finer grain sizes.

GRADE

• Grade of a grinding wheel is the indicative of strength of bond between Abrasives grains. It
is represented by capital letters of alphabet ‘A’ to ‘Z’ as described below.
Soft: A B C D E F G H
Medium: I J K L M N O P
Hard: Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Selection of grade depends on hardness of workpiece material, grinding speed, contact area of
grinding wheel with the workpiece, capability of grinding machine.
Abrasives of hard grinding wheels are recommended to grind workpiece of low hardness and soft
grinding wheels are recommended for hard materials.

STRUCTURE
It includes number of abrasives and number of pores in unit volume. The distribution of abrasives and
pores decides the structure of a grinding wheel.
On the basis of structure grinding wheels are called dense or open grinding wheel. In case of dense
grinding wheels abrasive particles are densely packed as compared to open grinding wheel with larger
porosity. Generally, structure of grinding wheel is coded in number. Higher number indicates open
structure of grinding wheel. Structure codes are given below.
• Dense structure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Open structure 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
GLAZING

• Glazing is the condition of the grinding wheel in which the cutting edges or the face of the
wheel takes a glass-like appearance.
• Glazing takes place if the wheel is rotated at very high speeds and is made with harder
bonds.
• Rotating the wheel at lesser speeds and using soft bonds are the remedies. The glazed wheels
are dressed to have fresh, sharp cutting edges.
LOADING
• The wheel is loaded if the particles of the metal being ground adhere to the wheel.
• The openings or pores of the wheel face are filled up with the metal. It is caused by grinding a
softer material or by using a very hard bonded wheels and running it very slowly.
• It may also take place if very deep cuts are taken by not using the right type of coolant.
WHEEL DRESSING

• Wheel dressing is defined as the act of improving the cutting action. It can also be described
as sharpening operation. Dressing a wheel exposes new cutting edges and improves the
cutting action.
• It becomes necessary from time to time during the course of working to correct uneven wear
and to open up the face of the wheel so as to obtain efficient cutting conditions.
• Dressing a wheel does not necessarily true it. The wheel may be out of round or parallel even
after dressing as it only removes the outside layer of dulled abrasive grains and the foreign
materials
1. Rotating hand dressers
2. Abrasive sticks or wheels
3. Single point or cluster diamond dressers
4. Crush roll dressers
WHEEL TRUING
• Wheel truing is defined as act of restoring the cutting face of a grinding wheel by removing
the abrasive material from the cutting face and sides of the wheel, so that it will run true with
respect to the axis of rotation and produce perfect round or flat work.
• It also includes the altering of the cutting face shape to produce special contours. As soon as a
fresh wheel is fitted, it becomes necessary to true its face. It also produces concentricity or
parallelism of faces. It prepares the wheel to perform a forming operation.
Honing Process
Honing is a low-abrasive machining process that uses bonded abrasive sticks for removing stock from
metallic and non-metallic surfaces. The process is commonly used for internal surfaces to correct
dimensional and shape errors, like out of roundness, taper, and axial distortion.
Working Principle:
• The workpiece is held between centres and rotated while an abrasive stick rotates with a
slightly slower speed.
• The abrasive grains are bonded in the form of sticks and are presented to the workpiece,
where they perform cross-hatch motions that improve surface finish and lubricating
conditions.
• It is mainly used to refine cylindrical surfaces, resulting in a smooth finish.
Lapping Process
Lapping is a finishing operation performed with loose abrasive grains. The process improves
dimensional accuracy and surface finish, commonly used in the final stages of machining to polish
metal surfaces.
Working Principle:
• The workpiece is rubbed against a lapping tool (lap), charged with abrasive particles.
• The abrasive particles are generally suspended in a vehicle fluid like water-soluble cutting
fluids or oils.
• Pressure is applied while moving the lap across the workpiece, resulting in random scratch
patterns and a polished finish.