Improved grinding performance of SiC using an innovative bionic vein-like structured grinding wheel optimized by hydrodynamics

Diamond grinding wheel grinding has gradually become the main method for processing hard and brittle ma-terials such as silicon carbide. Surface-structured grinding wheel prepared by laser ablation is a key technology to enhance grinding performance. A novel laser ablation vein-like structured grinding wheel (VLSGW) is suggested in this paper. The vein structure can effectively reduce the flow resistance. Four kinds of bionic vein structure flow channels were ablated on grinding wheels by picosecond pulse laser. The influence of the VLSGW on the air backflow and air pressure on the workpiece surface was analyzed by simulation. The grinding performance of VLSGW and unstructured grinding wheel (USGW) grinding SiC were compared. Compared with USGW, VLSGW can reduce normal and tangential grinding forces by up to 47.37 % and 41.06 %. At the same time VLSGW has a better workpiece surface topology and wear resistance than USGW.