Influence of the Macro-topography of Grinding Wheels on the Cooling Efficiency and the Surface Integrity

The surface integrity of ground workpieces is not only influenced by the chosen parameters, but also by the coolant supply. Coolant supply in grinding is mainly governed by the nozzles used and their parameters. However, the cooling efficiency in grinding can also be enhanced by altering the macro-topography of the grinding wheel itself. In this paper three different grinding wheels using the same nozzle parameters are compared with respect to their cooling efficiency and hence their impact on the surface integrity of the ground workpieces. Besides a standard grinding wheel with continuous layer, a slotted grinding wheel as well as a segmented grinding wheel are presented and their respective cooling efficiency is evaluated. It is shown that by altering the macro-topography of a grinding wheel the resulting surface integrity can be influenced positively as well as negatively.