Assessment of Al2O3 and superabrasive wheels in nickel-based alloy grinding

This paper presents experimental research on nickel-based alloy grinding using superabrasive wheels and Al2O3 wheels. Through on-line monitoring and off-line inspection, grinding performance and cost are studied based on statistical analysis. By using multi-objective optimization, the models of performance and cost assessment are built to evaluate the grinding performance and cost under different grinding conditions. In this way, the grinding performance and cost of different wheels can be quantitatively and qualitatively compared. With a comprehensive performance-cost analysis, the performance index of diamond wheels have been testified to be considerably higher than that of Al2O3 wheels even though their purchase cost is much higher than that of Al2O3 wheels.