Development of cast iron bonded grinding wheel for ELID grinding using the SPS method

To develop a conductive bond grinding wheel capable of efficiently grinding high-quality surfaces in ELID grinding, the fabrication conditions of a cast iron bond diamond grinding wheel using the SPS method were reviewed and grinding wheel characteristics were investigated. The grinding wheel was fabricated using cast iron powder and diamond abrasives with average grain diameters of 4μm and 12μm, respectively, with an SPS machine. Firing experiments indicated that high-strength cast iron bond diamond grinding wheels can be made under SPS conditions with a welding pressure of 600 MPa and firing temperature of 570°C. Grinding experiments of cemented carbide alloy and sapphire were conducted with the prototype grinding wheel, and the results showed that the grinding wheel is effective for creating high-quality surfaces for high-strength materials.