Abstract
The novel Shape Adaptive Grinding (SAG) process, which uses diamond abrasives bonded in nickel or resin pellets attached to an elastic tool, has been previously demonstrated in finishing freeform ceramic molding dies with surface roughness below 1 nm Ra. In this paper, a dynamometer was used to characterize grinding forces and the results show that contrary to conventional grinding, in SAG the grinding force increases proportionally to the diamond grit size. The chip thickness was derived statistically, and the grinding mechanism was correlated with previous observations of the ductile to fracture grinding mode transition.
