Simulation of Diamond Grinding Wheel to Characterize the Surface Topography

A technique for simulating the surface formation of a diamond grinding wheel is developed in order to evaluate typical characteristics of the surface topography. The simulation includes four procedures: simulating the grains with long and short diameters according to those actual distributions in a mesh size; distributing the grains into the bond area of the wheel based on a random or uniform manner, truing and dressing the wheel surface to make cutting edges under a grain protrusion ratio as the criterion for grain remaining or falling off, and evaluating characteristic values of the surface topography like density of cutting edges The results showed that the surface topography simulated by the random grain distribution resembled the actual one when maximum grain protrusion ratio was 30-35% in a resinoid bonded wheel and 35-40% in a metal bonded wheel. The density of cutting edges, the length of cutting edges per unit area and the extent of maldistribution of grains were determined on wheels with grain sizes from coarse to fine.