Microstructuring strategies of cBN grinding wheels

A picosecond laser is utilized for microstructuring of a metal-bonded cBN grinding wheel. Two types of structure, both with 15% reduction of the wheel surface area, but with different patterns are produced. The effect of structuring on surface roughness and grinding forces in the cylindrical plunge grinding of 100Cr6 is studied. Reducing the abrasive layer area (15% reduction of the wheel surface area) causes the reduction of grinding forces up to 60%, while the roughness values increase up to 30%. The concentrated structuring approach led to better structure persistence of the wheel structure in comparison with the uniformly distributed structure. Furthermore, temperature measurement demonstrated that microstructuring leads to reduced wheel and workpiece contact zone temperatures.