Investigating the Application of Customized Abrasive Cutoff Wheels with Respect to Tool Wear and Subsurface Integrity in Metallographic Cutting of Pure Titanium

In order to guarantee and assess the characteristics of raw or processed materials, industries and laboratories use metallographic analysis techniques. In such characterization method, specimen preparation plays an important role and one of the most relevant steps is the sectioning process, commonly performed by abrasive cutoff operations, which must be correctly planned to avoid metallurgical alterations in the sample. Within this context and considering the difficulties associated with cutting of titanium, like the generation of high temperatures, the present work investigates the application of specially designed cutoff abrasive wheels in metallographic cutting of commercially pure titanium, aiming to reduce subsurface damage, which makes it difficult to provide a proper analysis of the investigated material. Furthermore, a well-planned cutoff operation reduces the time needed to polish the sample and obtain a proper surface. Results showed that wheels with abrasives of silicon carbide and 30 mesh grain size combined with an extremely hard bond material lead to the lowest values of depth of affected zone.