High-Efficiency Grinding of Advanced Ceramics

1. lnasaki (2), Keio University, Yokohama/Japan - Submitted by K. Nakayama (1)

Summary: In this study grindability of several representative advanced ceramics, such as Al2O3, Zr02,
Sic and Si3Nq are experimentally investigated using a surface grinding machine. Grinding conditions are
broadly varied from conventional pendulum grinding to creep-feed grinding. Through the observation of
the ground surface and the removed swarf,with an electron microscope, it is confirmed that the material
removal process primarily depends on the micro-brittle fractures of the ceramics rather than their
plastic deformations. The specific grinding energies of the ceramics are markedly higher in creep-feed
grinding. Moreover,the grinding force increases very rapidly with time in the creep-feed case. These
results indicate that creep-feed grinding is not necessarily suitable for grinding of ceramics. In other
words, so-called speed stroke grinding with high workpiece speed is considered more suitable for
improving the grinding efficiency. Thc grinding stiffness, the sxrface roughness, and the grinding
ratio are also measured. Through the experiments carried out in this study, useful information is
obtained which can increase the efficiency of ceramic grinding.

1.Introduction
The application of advanced ceramics for
mechanical components has become of general interest A G r i n d i n g wheel
because of their excellent resistances against force,
heat, wear, and corrosion(1 I. During their sintering
process, however, a shrlnkage of the material cannot
be avoided. Therefore, some machining processes are
needed after the sintering to attain the accuracy
required for a component. In general, the workpiece
is ground with a diamond wheel as the final process.
However, there are some difficulties caused by the
extremely high hardness and durability of ceramics.
The purpose of the present study is, therefore,
focused on obtaining information for improving the
efficiency and the accuracy of ceramic grinding.

2. Experimental equipment and procedures

The advanced ceramics used in the experiments are

Al2O3, ZrO2, Sic, and Si3N4, the mechanical properties
of which are given in Table 1. Grinding tests are
carried out by using diamond grinding wheels and a
surface grinding machine. The table speed of the
grinding machine can be changed o v e r a wide range to
enable both conventional pendulum grinding and creep-
feed grinding.
The results of the grinding test are evaluated
through the grinding force and power (measured with a
KISTLER 9257A and a VALENITE 720-002/305), the
surface roughness, and the grinding wheel wear. The
experimental setup and the grinding condition are
shown in Fig.1 and Table 2, respectively.

Table 2: Grinding conditions

The chip observation described above indicates

Table 1 : Mechanical properties of advanced ceramics
3. Results of srindins tests
3.1. Observation of chip fragments
Fig.2 shows chip fragments collected during the
grinding of Al2O3. For comparison, chip fragments of
steel are shown in Fig.2(c). It is evident from the
figure that there must be a difference in the material
removal process between metal and ceramic grinding.
Continuous chips are formed in the former case while
discontinuous chips are formed in the latter case. A
remarkable difference is not observed between the
conventional and the creep-feed grinding of ceramics,
except that the size of chip fragments is larger in
the conventional case.
that the material removal process in ceramic grinding
depends mostly on the micro-brittle fracture of the
ceramic. On the other hand, in metal grinding,
material is removed mainly through shear deformation
as is well known. The understanding of this
difference in the material removal process becomes
important for improving the grinding efficiency of
ceramics.
3.2. Grinding force
Specific tangential grinding forces F'T in the
case of conventional grinding are shown in Fig.3 for
four different types of ceramics. The force is
smallest when A1203 is ground. The grinding force
increases with increasing depth of cut h and
increasing workpiece speed vw as I n metal grinding. A
remarkable difference between metal and ceramic
grinding is found, however, i n the ratio of the

Annals of the CIRP Vol. 35/1/1986 21 1

 i
1 5 pm

(a) A1203
Conventional
grinding

I5lrm

(b) A1203
Fiq.4: Specific normal grinding forces in ceramic
grinding
Creep-feed
grinding The grinding force and power increase markedly
with time during creep-feed grinding. Fracture and
pull-out of grain cutting edges are suppressed and
development of their attritious wear is accelerated in
the creep-feed range. The rapid increase in the
grinding force and power can be explained by this
excessive glazing phenomenon of the grinding wheel.
The rate of increase of the normal grinding
force,i.e., the slope of the increasing force against
time is shown in Fig.5 for the grinding of SijN4. The
(c) s45c rate of increase becomes higher when the depth of cut
increases. Use of a metal bonded diamond wheel
Conventional results in a higher rate of increase as shown in the
figure.
grinding From consideration of the grinding force, not
only its magnitude but also its rate of increase with
time, it is concluded that creep-feed grinding,
characterized by large depth of cut and excessively
slow workpiece speed, is not adequate for the grinding
of ceramics. The higher rate of increase in the
Fig.2: Chip fragments of ceramic and metal grinding force in particular involves serious problems
in attaining a high machining accuracy.

Wheel:ASD170RlOOB56-3
VI :22.0m/s
Vw :8.0rn/min
-O-:Akm

Depth of cut h pm
Fig.3: Specific tangential grinding forces in ceramic
grinding

tangential force component F'T to the normal force

component F'N. This ratio is considerably smaller in
the case of ceramic grinding. This is due to the high
hardness of the ceramics, which makes it difflcult for
the grain cutting edges to penetrate into the
workpiece.
Specific normal grinding forces are plotted in
Fig.4 f o r conventional and creep-feed grinding. Here,
the normal force, which acts on the grinding wheel in
the radial direction, is calculated from the measured
horizontal and vertical force components. This
conversion becomes necessary for creep-feed grinding
because of a large arc of contact between the grinding
wheel and the workpiece. I n the grinding test, a
specific metal removal rate vw.h is kept constant. A s
is evident from the figure, the specific normal
grinding force becomes considerably larger as the
depth of cut is increased in the creep-feed range.
Fig.5: Increase of grinding force in ceramic grinding
3.3. Grindins stiffness
The large normal force component i n ceramic
grinding means that the elastic deformation in a
mechanical system is also large. The deformation
perpendicular to the machining surface, of course,
deteriorates the machining accuracy and probably
reduces the grinding efficiency. The influence of the
normal grinding force on the machining error can be
quantitatively discussed by introducing a variable
which is called "grinding stiffness"(2). The
qrinding stiffness is defined as a ratio between the

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 Wheel : ASD170RlOOB56-3
v8 : 22.01111s

i"
I I I

m-7 1CT' rod lo"

A V U ~Ou-wclkna
~ OTW O f Cnpr m/WL
:zr& Fig.7: Specific grinding energy of ceramics
0 :Sbk

3.5. Surface rouqhness

4 0 12 16
Workpiece speed vw rn/rnin
Fig.6: Specific grinding stiffness of ceramics
normal grinding force and the depth of cut. This
ratio is not constant over a wide range of the depth
of cut and it generally becomes smaller as the depth
of cut increases. Fiq.6 shows the specific grinding
stiffness kc obtained in the region of small depth of
cut. The value of kc is highest when Si3N4 is ground.
The actual depth of cut h is estimated by
Surface roughness measured in the grinding
direction R a X and perpendicular to the grinding
direction Ral during conventional grinding are shown
in Fig.8. The roughness is only slightly affected by
the depth of cut. Being different from metal
grinding, a remarkable difference is not observed
between both roughness R a X and R a l . This result,
which is most obvious in the grinding of A1203
indicates that the brittle fracture of the workpiece
plays an important part in ceramic grinding. The
surface roughness is decreased by creep-feed grinding
because of its extremely slow workpiece speed.

where hn is the nominal depth of cut, bs is the
grinding width, and km is the static stiffness of the
mechanical system. It is evident from equation ( 1 )
that the higher the grinding stiffness, the smaller
the actual depth of cut, which probably causes the
increase of the machining error. A higher static
stiffness is, therefore, needed for the qrlnding
machine to reduce the machining error.
3.6.Grinding ratio
A grinding ratio defined by the ratio between the
stock removal of the workpiece and the wear of the
grinding wheel is one of the indices for evaluating
the grindability. Fig.9 shows the qrindins ratio
measured for three different cases. The metal-bonded
wheel shows a larger grinding ratio than the resinoid-
bonded wheel because grains are more strongly held by
the bonding materials. Through the comparison between
creep-feed and conventional grinding, it is pointed
o u t that the former case shows the smaller grinding
ratio. The excessive attritious wear of grain cutting
edges is the reason for this result.

3.4. Specific qrinding energy

Grindability of the material can be evaluated by
the specific grinding energy defined by

where FT is the tangential grinding force andvg is

the grinding speed. Fig.7 shows the relationship
between the specific grinding energy and the
dimensionless average cross-sectional area of chips
calculated by

where w is the average distance between the cutting

edges and ds is the diameter of the grinding wheel.
It may not be adequate to use this term for ceramic
grinding, because the material removal process is due
mostly to the micro-brittle fracture of the material.
The term "average cross-sectional area of chips" is
used here, however, to represent a condition of the L
geometrical interference between the workpiece and the
grain cutting edges. 15 30
The specific grinding energy increases with
decreasing the variable am/w2. This tendency becomes Depth o f cut h pm
more remarkable for creep-feed grinding characterized
by small values of amlw2. The size effect of the chip Fig.8: Surface roughness of ceramics
fragments and the occurrence of chip formation caused
by shear deformation are considered to be the reasons
for this phenomenon.

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 consideration of not only the grinding force but also
the surface roughness and the wheel wear, it is
confirmed that emulsifiable oil s h o w s better
performance than chemical fluids. The problem to be
solved is, however, to develop an efficient method f o r
separating chip fragments from the qrinding fluid.

5.Conclusions
Grinding tests are carried out for representative
advanced ceramics. It is confirmed through this
investigation that the material removal process of
ceramic grinding is due mostly to the micro-brittle
fracture of the material. The problem of utmost
importance in ceramic grinding is the excessive
increase in the grinding force with time elapsed and
the occurrence of chipping and cracking in the
workpiece. F r o m these findings several useful
suggestions are made for improving the grinding
efficiency of ceramics.

Acknowledgment
This research was supported in part by the
Mechanical Industry Development and Assistance
stodrrrova V.xuP 4 3 Foundation.

Fiq.9: Grinding ratio in ceramic grinding References

I 1 I Salj;,E., Damlos,H.H., and Mghlen,H. ; Internal
Grinding of High Strength Ceramic Workpiece
Materials with Diamond Grinding Wheels,
4. Remarks on the high-efficiency grindinq of advanced Annals of the CIRP, 34/1/1985, P.263
ceramics
( 2 1 Soneys,R., Wan9,I.C.; Analysis of the Static
Through a series of experiments several and Dynamic Stiffnesses of the Grinding Wheel
suggestions for improving the efficiency of ceramic Surface, Advances in Machine Tools Design and
grinding are proposed. The material removal process Research, Pergamon Press, 1968, P.1133
of ceramic grinding is primarily due to the micro-
brittle fracture of the material. The grinding force 1 3 ) Mohr,H. ; Verfahrensabgrenzung Kurzhub-, Pendel
and power can be, therefore, considerably reduced by und Tiefschleifen, Industrie-Anzeiger,
taking advantage of this phenomenon. The brittle 101 -91 /1979, P34
fracture of the material is accelerated by selecting
the grinding condition which gives the larger average
cross-sectional area of chips. This condition is
attained with a small depth of cut and a high
workpiece speed at a constant material removal rate.
The increase of the grinding force with time elapsed
is also suppressed in the same condition. Thus, it
can be said that creep-feed grinding is not adequate
for ceramic grinding, and conventional pendulum
grinding with higher workpiece speed is more
desirable.
From consideration of the ground surface quality,
however, the above suggested condition has some
adverse effects, i.e., an increase of the surface
roughness and the occurrence of chipping on the
workpiece surface. The generation of micro-cracks on
the workpiece surface will also be promoted.
In the grinding of ceramics, therefore, it
becomes especially important to distinctly divide the
process into two stages: roughing and finishing. A
high workpiece speed and a small depth of cut are
suggested for the roughing process to keep the
grinding force small and suppress the increase of the
grinding force with time. A rapid reciprocating
motion of the machine table is needed for minimizing
the non-machining time which occurs on both sides of
the workpiece. The grinding machine which is a s o
called "speed stroke grinding machine" will answer
this purposeI3). On the other hand, the workpiece
speed should be kept relatively low in the finishing
process to remove the damaged surface layer without
forming a new damaged layer.
Creep-feed grinding has a special advantage for
minimizing the chipping of the workpiece which often
occurs at the entry and exit of the grinding wheel.
However, some practical methods for preventing the
increase of the grinding force with time must be
developed in order to take advantage of this. This may
be attained by activating the self-sharpening of the
grinding wheel: for example by adding a high-frequency
vibration between the grinding wheel and the
workpiece. The application of a continuous dressing
might be another solution.
Selection of the appropriate grinding wheel and
the grinding fluid is also essential for improving the
efficiency. According t o the grinding force
measurement, the resinoid-bonded wheel shows a better
performance than the metal-bonded wheel: a smaller
grinding force and a smaller rate of increase l n the
grinding force. Difficulties in the truing and
dressing are other weak points of the metal-bonded
wheel.
Although the experimental results are not
described in detail in this paper, three different
t y p e s o f g r i n d i n g f l u i d s a r e tested. From

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