Fabrication of a new-type electroplated wheel with controlled abrasive cluster and its application in dry grinding of CFRP

In convention grinding, only a portion of grits on the working surface of a wheel play the cutting role and the others produce heat by rubbing the workpiece. There is not enough chip clearance in a grinding wheel with finer grits so that the wheel is easily clogged, leading to serious detrimental effects especially in dry grinding of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites. In this study, a new electroplated wheel with controlled abrasive cluster (CAC) is proposed and its grinding performance in grinding carbon/epoxy composites is investigated comparing with a conventional electroplated wheel. Since the abrasives on the working surface of the CAC wheel is reduced by 81.4% as compared with the conventional electroplated wheel, the grinding temperature is dramatically reduced by almost 45% and the wheel loading is effectively avoided. The space among the abrasive clusters facilitates grinding chip removal from the grinding contact zone.