This paper presents a review of researches on CBN (cubic boron nitride) grinding wheels with the purpose of identifying the state of art in abrasive machining and serving as the basis for future researches and laboratory tests. The scientific studies investigated here report on interesting results involving grinding, published by Brazilian and foreign authors. The methods and the results are presented and discussed. In addition, a grinding setup is presented which provides more reliable experimental results about the surface integrity of fragile materials. This setup was obtained for grinding tests in several grinding conditions during the wheel service life, using alumina and vitrified and resin bond CBN grinding wheels. Results of cutting force, surface roughness and G ratio are also presented and discussed. They confirm the excellent machining capacity of the CBN wheel, with stable behavior in cutting force and roughness results during the tests. The G ratio values are in agreement with the results found by other researchers.

This paper presents a research in which the performance of two different grinding wheels (a conventional and a CBN wheel) was evaluated in a transverse cylindrical grinding of a eutectic alloy. Three cutting conditions were tested: rough, semi-finishing and finishing. As evaluating parameters, the cutting force, the roughness and the wheel wear were measured. As a result, the best values of the cutting force and the roughness were obtained when grinding with the conventional wheel, due to the best dressing operation performed, for all the cutting conditions. The CBN presented the best G ratio values. Although, the G ratio values observed for the CBN wheel were lower than the expected one due to the non-effective dressing operation applied. In the conditions tested, in terms of cutting force and roughness, the conventional wheel is the best choice. In terms of G ratio, a cost analysis is crucial to determine if the differences observed among the wheels can justify the use of the CBN wheel. In a positive case, the dressing operation must be improved.

This article discusses the development of a test bench and a methodology for the study of composite resin abrasive wear. To evaluate the operation of the test bench and to compare the proposed methodology with other existing ones, a study was made of the five composites most commonly used by dentists. The one-way ANOVA method and the Tukey test were used to statistically analyze the results by multiple comparisons of the groups of resins tested. Using the proposed methodology, these resins were classified in an increasing order of abrasive wear strength, as follows: Charisma (the lowest abrasive wear strength), Tetric, TPH, Herculite and Z-100 (the highest abrasive wear strength) (p < 0.05). In comparison to other methodologies, the results of the proposed methodology presented the lowest coefficient of variation.

The aim of this work is to evaluate the mechanism of stock removal and the ground surface quality of advanced ceramics machined by a surface grinding process using diamond grinding wheels. The analysis of the grinding performance was done regarding the cutting surface wear behavior of the grinding wheel for ceramic workpieces. The ground surface was evaluated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). As a result it can be said that the mechanism of material removal in the grinding of ceramic is largely one of brittle fracture. The increase of the h max can reduce the tangential force required by the process. Although, it results in an increase in the surface damage, reducing the mechanical properties of the ground component.

CBN grinding wheels are superabrasive tools, with cutting ability higher than the conventional ones, specially used for grinding DTG (Difficult to Grind) materials. Due to the higher hardness and thermal conductivity of the CBN superabrasive grains, when compared with conventional abrasive grains, the use of CBN tools reduce the grinding temperatures decreasing the probability of workipece’s thermal damage. These proprieties of CBN grains permit lowering the energy partition because less heat is generated during grinding and much heat is dissipated through the grinding wheel instead of through the workpiece. This paper shows a research about the microstructural changes in the ground subsurface and the differences in the superficial integrity when using two types of superabrasive grinding wheels, manufactured with vitrified and resin bonds, analyzed in different cutting conditions. The ground material was the VC 131 steel, hardened and tempered. Were not observed microstructural changes in the subsurface ground with the two types of tools. As a result, the use of different types of the bonding do not affect the surface integrity neither resulted in microstructural changes, because the maximum temperatures measured in the grinding zone were lower than 125 °C, much less than the required level to cause microstructural changes.