DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTICAL SCANNER TO STUDY WEAR ON THE WORKING SURFACE OF GRINDING WHEELS

Abstract

The efficiency of the grinding operation is highly dependent on the grinding wheel surface topography. Several methods for the evaluation of the grinding wheel surface have been developed in the last few years. In some of these methods, the grinding wheel has to be removed from the machine for an evaluation using a microscope or a profilometer. Some other methods are able to measure the topography at the grinding machine, but they do not give detailed information about grain distribution and wear. This paper shows a new method to map the grinding wheel surface. The proposed system is based on an optical scanner capable of measuring the light beam reflected from the wear flat areas on the abrasive grains over the whole wheel peripheral surface. The Mapping System for Grinding Wheels (MSGW) is able to acquire data with the wheel running at the work speed (30 m/s)and the measurement carried out on the grinding machine without stopping. The system is applied on a surface grinding operation where an Alj0₃grinding wheel is used. The results show that the system can be used to map the wear flats at the grinding wheel surface and also to analyze the wear phenomena efficiently.