Manufacturing of grinding tools using laser processing and brazing

Grinding is a manufacturing process where material is removed with abrasion. The importance of the grinding is owed to the fact that grinding is mostly the last step in manufacturing and effects of this step are the ones that will remain with the component in its lifetime. Many conventional grinding wheels have random distribution of abrasive gritts with poor geometrical conditions  such as negative rake angle, discrepancy in grits heights, which prevents some of the grit from being engaged with the workpiece decreasing operation efficiency. Moreover, in a conventional grinding wheel, chip evacuation does not happen at its ideal state and chips may end up being stuck between the grits, which results in deterioration of the grinding ability. These will eventually create unwanted results including geometrical inaccuracies, workpiece surface burn, residual stresses, surface cracks, etc. Proper selection of grinding wheel material, pattern and process parameters can result in an enhanced surface characteristics and more efficient operation.

The objective of the project is to manufacture wheels that satisfied the optimized condition provided by the process simulations and optimization results. The project is mainly focused on laser ablation of the conventional grinding wheels and brazing the grits on the steel substrates. Afterwards, numerous tests will be carried out in order to find out the manufactured wheels' performance. Furthermore, the results will be compared with those of the the conventional grinding wheels in terms of grinding force, temperature and surface roughness. 

Students with interests in manufacturing and experiments are welcomed to the project.