A. Material Removal Rate

The material removal rate with diamond brushes is remarkably higher than the brushes of silicon carbide (C) abrasives for all the materials in test.

The material removal rate increases as the diamond particle size in brush fibers increases in the test of all the materials.

The diamond brushes show the highest material removal rate for ceramics and show the lowest material removal rate for tungsten carbide. It seems that this difference of removal rate is caused by the difference in the material characteristics such as feedstock size or bonding system and its strength among the particles.

B. Grinding Ratio

The diamond brushes show again a remarkably higher grinding ratio than the C abrasives which can give only a remarkably smaller volume of material removal.

Grinding ratio of the diamond brushes increases as the particle size increases for all the materials in test.

The diamond brushes show the highest grinding ratio in the grinding of ceramics and show the lowest grinding ratio in the grinding of tungsten carbide, which well corresponds to the results of material removal rate described in above A.

C. Workpiece Surface Finish

Workpiece surface finish treated with the diamond brushes is rougher than that with the C abrasives brushes. It is due to the significant sharpness of diamond abrasive over C abrasive. The surface finish with C abrasive including #120 is equivalent to that with diamond micron power of #600 in an approximate mesh size.

Workpiece surface finish treated with diamond brushes becomes smoother as the particle size decreases for all the materials in test.

D. Tangential Grinding Force

Diamond brushes generate a slightly lower tangential grinding force compared with the C abrasive brushes. This shall be one indication of C abrasive dullness.

In general, the tangential grinding force decreases for all the materials in test, as the particle size of diamond brushes decreases.

E. Workpiece Temperature Increase in Grinding

Diamond brushes generate a lower temperature increase in treated materials, compared with the C abrasive brushes. This is related to the shape cutting edges remarkably high thermal conductivity of diamond abrasives.

Brushes of 325/400 mesh size and #600 show the lowest workpiece temperature in case of the diamond brushes.