Online tangential laser profiling of coarse-grained bronze-bonded diamond wheels.

A novel online tangential laser profiling method was developed in this study. The system consisted of a pulsed fiber laser, a surface grinder, a motorized three-dimensional (3D) translation stage, laser displacement sensors and a laser power meter. Online tangential laser profiling was conducted on coarse-grained (120) bronze-bonded diamond wheels. When the laser power exceeded 40 W, the laser beam simultaneously removed the diamond grains and the bronze bond to produce a smooth wheel surface. The mean circular runout error and the axial gradient error of the grinding wheel surface decreased from 203.4 and 67.6 μm to 9.5 and 0.8 μm, respectively, indicating that the wheel contour accuracy improved significantly after profiling. The diamond grains on the grinding wheel surface were graphitized during laser profiling. However, blowing a protective argon (Ar) stream or spraying water mist from the side during profiling decreased the extent of graphitization compared to that in air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]