Observation of Abrasive Grains Behavior in Contact Area of Grinding Wheel and Comparison with Grinding Wheel Model

In contact areas between grinding wheels and workpieces, elastic deformations of grinding wheel take place due to the act of grinding forces. Since grinding wheels consist of abrasive grains and bonds, it may be regarded that the elastic deformations of grinding wheels in contact areas depend on movements of each abrasive grain. However, plural grains are connected each other complicatedly, and then it is difficult to observe each grain behavior. This study aims to directly observe the behaviors of grains in contact areas with workpieces. A small loading apparatus for grinding wheel is newly developed. Inserting a loaded wheel with this apparatus into SEM, grains behaviors in contact area are directly observed. Furthermore, grains behaviors under loaded condition are analyzed with a wheel model developed previously and observed results are compared with analyzed results.