Effects of Single Point Dressing on Seeded Gel Grinding Wheel Surface Topography

The effects of single point dressing on the surface topography of a seeded gel (SG) ceramic grinding wheel are investigated. First, new wheel and grain characterization techniques including X-ray micro-tomography (μCT) are introduced to obtain a better understanding of the micro surface topography of the SG grinding wheel. Single point dressing experiments are then carried out and the resulting wheel topography evaluated using optical surface metrology to understand the effects of dressing parameters. A special wheel indexing and relocation apparatus is designed and used to analyze changes in wheel surface topography at a given location before and after dressing. In addition, statistical distributions of the key parameters (e.g. grit density, grit size, grit height, number of sides of grit, grit spacing) are determined and analyzed.