Interesting article on diamonds

[Harold_V]

I have long touted the value of diamond wheels, and why they shouldn't be used on ferrous materials.
I was sent this link by a friend, and found it very interesting and informative. For those of you who have a curiosity about the use of diamond, a little light is shed on the topic. Give it a go!


https://insights.globalspec.com/article ... ter&cid=nl

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[Mr Ron]

Very interesting. I did not know that diamond couldn't cut steel alloys or iron due to the carbon content. Might work good on aluminum alloys???

[Downwindtracker2]

I give my wife diamonds, lots of them. They are on lapidary wheels.

[John Hasler]

Very interesting. I did not know that diamond couldn't cut steel alloys or iron due to the carbon content. Might work good on aluminum alloys???

Diamond cuts steel very well at room temperature. Unfortunately, hot iron destroys it.

[Harold_V]

Very interesting. I did not know that diamond couldn't cut steel alloys or iron due to the carbon content. Might work good on aluminum alloys???

It isn't the carbon content that's the problem. It's the insatiable appetite for carbon that iron has that dissolves the diamond at heat. It is very capable of cutting iron/steel---it just can't do it very long because of rapid degradation. Temperature at the interface of the wheel/part is extremely high.

As for aluminum, sure, it will cut it easily, but unless a tip is used in lieu of a wheel, loading would be a huge problem. Aluminum doesn't present any particular issues when machining, thus there is no need to grind. High speed machining with diamond tools yields exceptional finishes.

Of interest, perhaps. When a wheel on a centerless grinder is being dressed, the diamond glows, much like a light bulb. That's likely true of any diamond dressing, but most wheels are narrow and are dressed in the open, unlike a centerless wheel. The diamond on a centerless is applied inside the wheel shroud, where there is no light. There's a small inspection port which allows one to see the diamond. Wheel width on the old Cincinnati #2's that I operated is 6". Plenty of time to observe the diamond in action.

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[Conrad_R_Hoffman]

An Accufinish grinder runs slow and is used wet. The diamond wheels have no problem tuning up HSS and cast alloy tools. No matter what you do, eventually they'll wear out and have to be replaced. Hint- we found nothing cleans them up like a scrubbing with Bar Keeper's Friend.

[mikeehlert]

40+ years ago worked in a large job shop plant that made Aluminum Oxide parts. 92%, 96%, 98%, and 99.5% purity compositions. All hard (fired part) grinding was done with diamond wheels, metal bonded mostly, using water based coolant. Green machining was primarily done with carbide single point tools but CNC jobs where the tool shape was part of the completed job utilized polycrystalline diamond. One particular green roughing operation on a Blanchard grinder utilized replaceable inserts on the wheel..... massive material removal rate.

The engineering and selection of diamond wheels is a complex and fascinating business, more variables that you want and mistakes are expensive. If you can get the local Norton sales guy to talk to you I highly recommend his advice.