In: Civil Engineering
A national laboratory has stated that they are responsible for a ceramic machining program that intends “to provide measurement methods, data, and mechanistic information needed by industry to develop innovative cost-effective methods for machining advanced structural ceramics.” Grinding with diamond wheels is the most prevalent method of machining advanced ceramics. This machining is highly complex and depends on many interdependent factors. The major elements of a grinding system are the grinding wheel, the grinding fluid, the machine tool, and the workpiece. Each of these is associated with several parameters that can influence the grinding process: such as, the type and size of the diamond grit, the properties of the grinding fluid, method of delivery of the grinding fluid, and grinder characteristics (e.g., stiffness and vibration).
A specific experiment is proposed to characterize the effects of grinding parameters on the flexural strength of ceramic “A.” The investigators are particularly interested in the effects of grinding speed, wheel diamond grit size, and “down feed rate” on the ceramic strength.