Functional Assessment of the Grinding Wheel Surface Characteristics by Turbulence Amplifier

The importance of wheel surface topography and its influence on the grinding performance and the workpiece finish is widely recognized. Wheel surface characterization is an important aspect towards the development of adaptive control and process optimization in grinding. This paper highlights a new method of assessing the characteristics of the wheel surface by measuring air flow around the wheel using a turbulence amplifier system. Different wheel surface profiles have been generated with different dressing feed rates and their effective profiles have been compared with the output values of the turbulence amplifier. An optimum dressing feed rate range for the production of fine surfaces has been suggested. The changes in the wheel topography from freshly dressed to glazed condition, as the grinding proceeds, have been measured and their effect on the ground finish has been discussed. Based on the experimental results, the possible practical utilization of this technique in industry is suggested to ascertain the stage of wheel glazing and loading at which redressing is required for better performance.