The quality of sharpening of cutting tools is directly affected by the grinding wheel, which helps to restore the properties lost during operation. In this case, it is necessary to take into account several characteristics at once, such as the grain size of the abrasive material, shape, hardness, and so on. The size is primarily determined by the design of the grinding machine. Experts advise using products with the largest diameter, since the productivity and quality of subsequent work will largely depend on this, but there are exceptions here as well.
To work with tool steels, in most cases, a grinding wheel made of white electrocorundum is used, which has an intensive self-sharpening of cutting grains. Due to this, a sufficiently high productivity and good quality of the ground surfaces are achieved. However, to sharpen cutting tools made of mineral ceramics or carbide, diamond or silicon carbide is used.
At present, diamond grinding wheels are the hardest in contrast to products made on the basis of other abrasive materials, but alsothey have their own weakness, expressed in considerable fragility. In this regard, they are intended mainly for the final processing of carbide tools, when it is necessary to remove a not very large layer of material. That is, there should not be a strong shock load on the diamond grains.
Such a grinding wheel can be made on a metal, ceramic or organic bond. In the first case, high strength characteristics are provided, and heat resistance also increases. Thus, the service life is greatly increased and the geometric shape is perfectly maintained. Organic bonded products are ideal for finishing applications. Unlike the above-mentioned counterparts, they have a higher consumption of abrasive material.
The productivity of sharpening and the cleanliness of the machined surface also depend on the grain size of the abrasive. Depending on this parameter, micropowders, grinding powders and grinding grains are distinguished. Tests have shown that the grinding wheel with a grit of 60 to 80 performs best in the process of sharpening carbide surfaces. At a relatively low cost, such products allow you to remove a significant layer of carbide, while ensuring sufficient surface cleanliness.
As a rule, the marking of grinding wheels is carried out using special labels, which contain information about the manufacturer,abrasive material, grain size, hardness and bond. All the listed data are placed in one line in an abbreviated form. As for tools that are small in size, they are allowed to lack some parameters. In addition to labeling, products can be marked with volumetric weight and structure, lot number and other characteristics.
