Cost-Effective Grinding of Zirconia Using the Dense Vitreous Bond Silicon Carbide Wheel

Abstract

Results of grinding zirconia using wheels with fine grain size SiC and dense vitreous bond are presented. Wheel wear results demonstrated that this type of SiC wheel could grind fully and partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) very effectively. X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the percentage of monoclinic phase in the PSZ base material, ground surface, and debris. As expected, due to the stress- and temperature-induced phase transformation during grinding, the percentage of monoclinic phase on the ground surface was increased relative to the base material. However, X-ray diffraction showed no monoclinic phase in the PSZ debris. This suggests that, during grinding, the low thermal conductivity of zirconia and SiC, compared to that of diamond, facilitates heat retention in the chip and softens the work-material. This makes the efficient grinding of PSZ possible. Grinding temperature measurement results supported this hypothesis.