Manufacturing Of Graded Grinding Layers

Grinding of end mill cutters leads to an unevenly radial wear of the grinding wheel due to varying geometric engagement conditions along the grinding wheel width. This results in a decreasing precision of the resulting tool geometry. Previous studies showed that simulation-based load-adjusted grinding layers reduce the uneven wear. A diamond grain concentration gradient across the grinding layer width enables load-adjustment on the operational demands. For an effective reduction of the wear differences, an accurate and repeatable manufacturing method for smooth transitions between the concentration zones is required. This paper shows an approach for the manufacturing of graded grinding layers by Field-Assisted-Sintering. Optical images are taken of cross-sectioned grinding layer samples. An image analysis software was used to evaluate the grain concentration gradient. As a conclusion, the comparison of the manufactured gradients with the simulated gradients shows that the presented manufacturing method allows repeatable fabrication of graded grinding layers.