Surface Grinding Service by Liquitac
High-quality Surface Grinding Services in Days Not WeeksÂ
Liquitac offers the highest standard of precision among surface grinding operations. Surface grinding is a precision machining process that very precisely removes small amounts of material from the surface of a workpiece. Such machines make multiple passes with a high-speed grinding wheel made of silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, or carborundum powders bonded into a porous and refreshable surface of extreme particulate hardness.
Liquitac can create excellent flat surface finishes on hard materials such as normalized and hardened steels and stainless steels. The process also has some value for other materials such as brass, aluminum, and even certain plastics — although many softer materials clog the pores in the grinding wheel and then cause spalling and gouging that destroys the surface.
What Is Surface Grinding?
Surface grinding is an aggressive and highly controlled interaction between a rotating grinding wheel and the workpiece. The grinding wheel, typically composed of abrasive particles of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or carborundum, is mounted on a spindle and rotates at high speeds. The workpiece is securely held on a magnetic chuck or a clamping fixture and is fed against the rotating grinding wheel. The wheel is generally mounted on a horizontal axis so its dressed cutting face can be lowered onto the workpiece’s surface. You may also find vertically mounted wheels meant to grind side faces, but they’re less common.
Most grinders mount the grinding wheel on a fixed shaft that moves only in the Z direction. The workpiece clamping table below moves on the horizontal plane and can place any portion of the workpiece’s upper surface in contact with the grinding wheel.
Another common operational mode is to position the part between a grinding wheel and a traction/feed wheel. The feed wheel pushes the workpiece against the grinding wheel. This style is advantageous because the grinding wheels can be very wide and remove large swathes of material at a time.
A grinding wheel’s abrasive particles act as minute cutting tools, gradually abrading the surface of the workpiece. It removes material through a combination of cutting, plowing, and rubbing actions. Since grinding generates considerable heat, the operation demands flowing coolant or other cooling methods to prevent overheating and damage to the workpiece.
By ‘dressing’ the surface of the grinding wheel, i.e. abrading away a layer of the abrasive particles of the wheel using a diamond bit, the wheel’s surface can be rendered flat in the axial direction. Multiple passes across a workpiece can then create a surface that’s equally flat.
Types of Materials for Surface Grinding
Listed below are some of the materials that accept surface grinding:
- Aluminum
- Brass
- Cast Iron
- Mild Steel
- Stainless Steel
- Plastic
- Titanium
