Grinding Titanium With Coated Abrasives Under an Aqueous Solution of Inorganic Phosphate Salts

Abstract

Aqueous solutions of inorganic salts are known to be effective grinding lubricants for titanium. Early work by Professor Shaw at MIT drew particular attention to the use of phosphate salts, and although not commercially available as grinding fluids, some metal fabricators have compounded phosphate-containing fluids for their own use from the raw chemicals. In this paper, the dynamics of grinding Ti(6Al-4V) alloy are described using phosphate salt solutions. The results show that both aluminum oxide and silicon carbide coated abrasive belts have unique advantages in this application, with aluminum oxide exhibiting easy penetration and fast cutting behavior early on, while silicon carbide appears to have longer range durability.