A Study on the Machining Performance of Grinding Wheels for Grinding SiC_f/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites

To reveal the suitable machining parameter range and performance of grinding tools for silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC_f/SiC) ceramic matrix composites, the machining performance and ground surface quality of brazed and electroplated diamond tools when grinding SiC_f/SiC composites under different grinding parameters were investigated in this study. Results indicate that at grinding depths of 50 µm and 100 µm, the electroplated diamond tool yields lower surface roughness. While at depths of 200 µm and 400 µm, the brazed diamond tool produces over 20% lower surface roughness than those by the electroplated tool. Furthermore, using the brazed diamond tool generates generally more than 50% lower grinding forces than using the electroplated tool. The brazed diamond tool exhibits superior wear resistance. Therefore, the brazed diamond tool is more suitable for heavy grinding operations at depths of 200–400 µm, whereas the electroplated diamond tool is better suited for grinding depths below 100 µm. This study provides clear parameter selection of grinding tools for machining SiC_f/SiC ceramic matrix composites.