To solve the problem that the basic physical and chemical indexes of phenolic resin for stainless steel grinding belt was difficult to fully characterize the grinding performance of the belt, four phenolic resins with the same basic parameters were selected as the research objects. The thermogravimetric(TG) and the impact strength of the phenolic resin were analyzed, the peel strengths and the grinding performances of four belts prepared with four phenolic resins were tested under the same process conditions, the correlation between phenolic resins and abrasive belt grinding performances were explored . The results show that when the basic parameters such as solid content, viscosity, water solubility and pH value of phenolic resins are basically the same, the maximum values of the grinding ratio, the grinding efficiency and the workpiece surface roughness of the four abrasive belts differ by 31.8%, 27.2% and 27.6% respectively. The TG, the impact strength of phenolic resins and the peel strength of the belts made of phenolic resins are positively related to the grinding performance of the belts. The main failure modes of abrasive belts grinding stainless steel are abrasive wear, abrasive particles adhere to debris and debris seriously blocking the chip space.