Saint-Gobain: Analysis of the application of Century45 in centerless grinding technology

        In the bar processing, for the best roundness, dimensional tolerance and surface finish, centerless grinding is undoubtedly a suitable choice. Through-center centerless grinding is especially important for parts that are efficient and economical and need to be manufactured within tight tolerances.

        In view of this, Saint-Gobain introduced the Norton Century45 high-performance grinding wheel earlier, which greatly enhanced the cost competition. Developed from composite materials such as ceramics, alumina, and silicon carbide, Century45 is used for bar processing of various materials such as carbon steel, aluminum, cast iron, 300/400 series stainless steel, titanium, and nickel alloy (Inconel). ) and copper.
        The Century45 uses B45 ceramic binder, which has high processing efficiency per turn and large cutting capacity. It is more advantageous than traditional grinding wheels; in some processing cases, Century45 is even more efficient than traditional grinding wheels. When the same amount of material is removed, the number of revolutions of the grinding wheel is reduced, which means that the cycle time is shortened and the production efficiency is improved.
New wheel binder

        Norton Century45's bonding agent uses a unique chemical composition that improves the abrasive holding power. This technology can design a high-hardness porous grinding wheel, which not only improves the holding hardness of the grinding wheel abrasive, but also improves the soft performance of the grinding wheel.
Grinding wheel has a longer life
        The best quantitative standard for wheel life is the grinding ratio (G-ratio), which is the ratio of the amount of cutting material to the amount of wear on the wheel material (as shown in the formula below). The amount of material can be weighed by mass or volume; this measurement avoids variations in the level of production.

        In addition to productivity, Norton Century45 also increases the durability of the wheel and doubles the service life of standard wheels. The number of grinding wheel changes is reduced, and the downtime is also reduced accordingly; the inventory of the grinding wheel is reduced, the production cost is also reduced; and the productivity is finally improved.
Quiet grinding environment
        According to the statistics of the US Labor Bureau, about 30 million people in the United States are exposed to noise-hazardous work environments. Especially in private companies, hearing damage caused by noise damage is one of the most common non-fatal occupational diseases in the United States. In the United States, about a thousand workers suffer from hearing damage every year because of excessive noise in their work environment. The porous structure of Norton Century45 significantly reduces the noise decibels of the grinding wheel during grinding, especially metal machining.
        In the case study, Norton Century45 can effectively reduce the noise to 23.2dB; and the effective noise reduction of the popular anti-noise foam earplugs on the market is only about 25-28 dB.
Applications
        Case 1: A double-supported grinding wheel centerless grinding machine for a customer in Cincinnati, USA, and used for rounding and polishing of Inconel bars.
        Outer diameter of the workpiece: 0.5-1.75 inches, workpiece length: 378-384 inches. The 80-mesh silicon carbide abrasive resin bond grinding wheel (24*20*12 inches) removes the Inconel bar by about 0.005 inches per revolution, while the Norton Century45 wheel uses 0.012 inches of material per revolution.

        As can be seen from the figure, the newly adopted Century45 not only achieves a cutting rate of 140%, but also increases the life of the grinding wheel 100%. At the same time, the cycle time is also reduced by 50%, and the noise is effectively reduced to 23.2dB. The total cost of the new grinding wheel is about 30% lower than the total cost of the original grinding wheel, and the cost savings are around $98,800.
        Case 2: At the customer's request, improve the service life of the grinding wheel abrasives, and improve the 3# centerless grinding machine to reduce the total cost, for the processing of alloy steel (1045, 10V45, 4140 and 17-4) bar workpieces.
        Outer diameter of the workpiece: 3.5-7.5 inches; length of the workpiece: 4-6.5 inches. In order to meet the test test, the original 46 mesh alumina abrasive resin bond grinding wheel (24*8*305) was replaced by Century45 3NQAC36-S9B45 grinding wheel.

        The new grinding wheel cuts 25% higher than the original grinding wheel (Century45 removes 0.005 inches per revolution, the original grinding wheel removes 0.004 per revolution), and G-ratio increases by 32%. The price/performance ratio of Norton Century45 grinding wheel is 100% better than traditional grinding wheel.
        It can be seen from the above cases that selecting a high-efficiency grinding wheel can significantly save processing time and labor and save costs. The smaller the wheel change, the shorter the downtime and the higher the work efficiency; the increase in production capacity means that more production tasks and jobs can be handled. Especially for the multi-blade grinding machine for mass-scale large-scale processing, the use of such a new type of grinding wheel makes its efficient production and value more obvious. (Compile: China Superhard Materials Network)