Evaluation of the Influence of the Cooling Method Used During Grinding on the Operating Properties of Ceramic Grinding Wheels Made with Different Abrasives

This article presents the results of a study of the performance characteristics of ceramic grinding wheels during peripheral grinding of flat surfaces carried out using different methods of supplying cooling and lubricating fluid (coolant). In the study, T1 type grinding wheels were used, differing in the type of abrasive used in their construc-tion. The abrasive consisted of mixtures with different volume percentages of: 1) grains of conventional white electro-corundum, 2) grains of submicrocrystalline sintered corundum produced by sol-gel technology, 3) micro -crystalline sintered ceramic grains with RECERAMAXTM RT microclasters from RECKEL. Specimens made of 145Cr6 tool steel (60 & PLUSMN;1 HRC) were ground using coolant feeding by flood method and MQL (Minimum Quantity Lubrication) method. During the study, the components of grinding force (Fn, Ft), radial loss of the grinding wheel and roughness of the ground surface were measured, which made it possible to determine the volumetric wear of the grinding wheel Vs, the total grinding power P, and then calculate the grinding indicators G and Ks. The ob-tained values of the G index indicate that, regardless of the type of grinding wheel used, a higher relative grinding efficiency was obtained during grinding with the delivery of coolant by the MQL method. The highest values of this index were obtained in the case of the grinding process carried out with a grinding wheel containing RECERAMAXTM RT abrasive. The Ks index confirmed the best performance of the mentioned grinding wheel. Since its value also depends on the total grinding power P and the surface roughness parameter Ra, the grinding process carried out with this grinding wheel is additionally char-acterized by a better quality of the obtained surface and lower energy consumption.