Grind Quickly And Accurately With A Vitrified Superabrasive Wheel

High material removal rates demand a lot from the workpiece-machine-wheel system. Everything deflects under the high loads, making it difficult to achieve precise control over finished workpiece dimensions.

To combat this grinding machine manufacturers engineer-in as much rigidity as possible, but the wheel has a part to play as well. Resin-bonded wheels tend to “give” slightly under load, making it hard to meet tight tolerances whereas vitrified wheels provide much higher stiffness. This is because the Vitrified wheel is essentially composed of abrasive bound in a ceramic bond that doesn’t deflect as it contacts the workpiece, so size control is better.

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VITRIFICATION BENEFITS

A vitrified superabrasive wheel begins life as Diamond or CBN grit incorporated into a specialized ceramic bond. After being formed to the required wheel shape this goes into a kiln where it’s fired at high temperature to fuse the abrasive to the bond. The superabrasive is both mechanically and chemically held.

This provides five other benefits in addition to stiffness:

  • Low wear rates

  • Thermal stability – which helps size control

  • Open structure enables coolant delivery to the grinding zone, keeping interface temperatures down

  • Oils and other fluids have no effect on wheel integrity

  • Dress-able, allowing precise forms and extending life

APPLICATIONS 

Vitrified superabrasive wheels have a much longer life than conventional Silicon Carbide or Aluminum Oxide grinding wheels and provide exceptionally rapid material removal. This makes them attractive for high volume applications where cycle time and downtime must be minimized. 

Vitrified diamond wheels are ideal for grinding PCD cutting tools, as well as carbides, cermets and ceramics. Vitrified CBN wheels are more suited for ferrous metal applications like camshaft and crankshaft grinding in the automotive industry or tool and die machining.

A further advantage of vitrified wheels is the possibility of customization to suit a specific application. Consult CDT to learn what's possible.

CAUTIONS 

Glass is brittle and so is a vitrified wheel. It will break down under high pressure. This also means the wheels need to be engineered for the application.

Because of the porous structure of the Vitrified wheels, it is important to adjust the corresponding grit size to match finish when comparing/converting from conventional abrasives or Resin and Metal Bond wheels.

THE HIGH VOLUME SOLUTION

When high material removal is needed and dimensional control is a concern a vitrified wheel should be the first choice. Its high stiffness and porous structure allow rapid grinding while minimizing deflection in the workpiece-machine-wheel system. Add in long life and the result is a wheel suited to the most challenging high volume applications.

ProductsAngie CarelVitrified Grinding Tools