Technological Possibilities of Low-Temperature Precision Grinding Process when Machining Hard and Brittle Materials

A comparatively new method of abrasive machining of flat surfaces by bonded abrasive wheel is described. This method combines such features of abrasive machining as high productivity and high surface quality. At optimal conditions of machining, the mean temperature of the interface does not exceed 70-130 C and therefore the method is named low temperature precision grinding (LPG). The method and the corresponding grinding machine are dedicated for precision grinding of flat surfaces of various components from hard, super-hard, and brittle non-metallic materials. Among them are ceramics, diamond, and CBN based composites, monocrystals, semiconductors, optical glass, ceramic and cemented carbide cutting tips and other materials of high interest in various branches of industry. The values of the rate of material removal, the surface quality, and the other output parameters of the LPG method are presented and compared with other methods of grinding. (Author)