Experimental investigation on ultrasonic-assisted truing/dressing of diamond grinding wheel with cup-shaped GC wheel

In the mirror surface grinding of fine ceramics with diamond grinding wheels, the truing/dressing of wheels must be frequently performed to maintain the shape accuracy and abrasive cutting-edge sharpness of the diamond grinding wheels to ensure a high processing efficiency and precision. For this purpose, a novel method is proposed for truing/dressing diamond grinding wheels in which a cup-shaped GC (Green silicon carbide) wheel is used as the truing/dressing tool and an ultrasonic vibration is applied axially to the diamond grinding wheel during truing/dressing. A truing/dressing device was designed and fabricated, and a series of experiments were conducted to systematically investigate the truing/dressing characteristics of metal–resin-bonded diamond grinding wheels. The following conclusions have been obtained. The truing/dressing force Fx is decreased with an increase of the ultrasonic amplitude. After truing/dressing, the performance of the grinding wheel has been significantly improved, including the improvement of shape accuracy and the increase in the number of effective abrasive particles per unit area with the assistance of ultrasonic vibrations during truing/dressing. Moreover, during truing/dressing, the introduction of the ultrasonic vibration reduced the abrasive grain cutting-edge apex angle, meaning that the sharpness of the grain cutting edge was improved by the ultrasonic vibrations. The truing/dressing ratio increased with an increase in the ultrasonic amplitude, leading to an extension of the servicing life of the cup-shaped GC wheel. Finally, a comparison of the performance of the grinding wheels trued/dressed with and without ultrasonic vibrations during the grinding of zirconia ceramics revealed that the grinding wheel trued/dressed with ultrasonic vibrations yielded an enhanced machined surface quality and lower grinding forces.