The basics of grinding

Grinding is a process of machining a flat, cylindrical or curved surface (profile grinding) where material is removed by abrasion. The original purpose of this operation was to improve the surface finish of highly hardened parts. The latest developments allow grinding to be used to remove large amounts of material in a single pass (deep pass grinding, very high speed grinding); this type of process can compete with milling or turning.

Machining of very hard or very brittle materials: martensitic bearing steels, high speed steels in their metallurgical state of use, refractory alloys, metal carbides, glass, ceramics.

Finishing of mechanical parts down to roughness’s of the order of a micron or even a tenth of a micron: rolling mill, connecting rod, cylinder barrel, punches and dies, bearings, gear flanks, turbine blades, optical, microelectronic, micromechanical applications, etc.