Experimental Evaluation of a Chip Thickness Model Based on the Fracture Toughness of Abrasive and Work Material in Grinding of Alumina Ceramics

Abrasive machining in general and grinding in particular are processes, which increase their importance with high demands on accuracy of surface finish. The chip thickness is an evaluating variable to describe the quality of ground surface as well as the performance of the overall grinding system. A significant characteristic that distinguishes ceramics from metals is their low fracture toughness, which also determines the material removal mechanism in the grinding of ceramics. An important prime requirement of an abrasive is its dynamic strength or fracture toughness which determines the fragmentation of the abrasive grain as it impacts the workpiece. In the present paper, a new chip thickness model has been formulated by incorporating the fracture toughness of abrasive and workpiece to assess the performance of super abrasive grinding of Alumina ceramics. The proposed model has been validated experimentally with the comparison of surface roughness obtained with the existing and proposed chip thickness models.