4. Nanostructured Abrasive Materials for Ultraprecision Finishing of High-Performance Materials

This chapter focuses on the development of nanostructured abrasive materials that are required to produce engineered surfaces of the highest integrity possible when processing difficult-to-machine materials such as those used in the aerospace sector. The chapter describes the challenges manufacturers have when dealing with abrasive cutting tools that fail to maintain roundness and suffer from “wheel collapse,” and localized pitting that affects the roundness of the wheel and the integrity of the ground surface that eventually has to be rectified by dressing methods that are non-productive in terms of cycle time and generate waste products. Subsequent discussions focus on the manufacture and use of new abrasive products by fusion and sintering that are nanostructured such that wheel pitting is virtually eliminated, wheel collapse is rare, and cycle time is reduced when grinding difficult materials such nickel and titanium alloys. Case studies are referred to throughout the chapter as a way to explain how nanostructured materials can change the way abrasive materials operate especially in the aerospace sector and beyond.