Study on surface quality in ultrasonic vibration grinding of SiC ceramics with small diameter grinding wheel

The SiC ceramic parts were machined by ultrasonic vibration grinding and common grinding with small diameter grinding wheel. The effects of grinding wheel linear speed, workpiece feed speed, grinding depth and ultrasonic amplitude on ground surface quality were studied. The results show that compared with the conventional grinding, the grinding tracks of ultrasonic vibration grinding are overlapped with each other, with more uniform surface morphology of workpiece and better surface quality. Because of the scratch crossing of the abrasive grains in ultrasonic vibration, the abrasive grains will produce empty cutting, thus reducing the grinding force and making the grinding process more stable. The surface roughness and the grinding force of ultrasonic vibration grinding decrease with the increase of grinding wheel linear speed and ultrasonic amplitude and the decrease of workpiece feed speed and grinding depth. When the linear speed of grinding wheel and the feed speed of workpiece are low, the effect of ultrasonic vibration grinding is more obvious.