The Application of Continuous Dressing in Creep Feed Grinding

A creep feed surface grinding test rig has been designed and manufactured with the capability of using a diamond roller to continuously dress the grinding wheel while it is cutting. The rig has been used with a nickel-based alloy as the main workpiece material and substantial reductions in the power required to remove material were obtained when continuous dressing was employed. If it is assumed that the power consumption at the onset of workpiece burning is the same with and without continuous dressing the test results indicate that it should be possible to achieve a 3 times increase in metal removal rate accompanied by an improved surface finish, although the wheel usage is likely to be increased by a factor of 2. The process thus appears to have the potential for increasing production rates when grinding tough or hard materials, which are normally classified as difficult to grind.