Energy Partition to the Workpiece for Grinding of Ceramics

An investigation is reported of the energy partition to the workpiece for grinding of silicon nitride with diamond wheels. The energy input to the workpiece was obtained by measuring the temperature response in the subsurface using a two-color infrared detector and matching the results to analytically computed values. Temperature measurements obtained with a two-color detector should be independent of the emissivity of the workpiece material, which is an important advantage over a single-color detector. Measured temperature responses were in good agreement with analytical predictions for a moving heat source with a triangular distribution at the grinding zone. It was found that about 16 to 24% of the energy is transported as heat to the workpiece for wet grinding and 59% for dry grinding.