Grinding is one of the most commonly used machining processes in industry and is considered a precision machining process because of its good size and form accuracy. Grinding competes with other machining processes, such as turning, milling, and polishing, but it continues to retain its niche for processes that the other technologies cannot duplicate. Among the many benefits of grinding are its wide range of applications, no minimum depth of cut, and its facility for self-sharpening. Grinding technology is under continuous improvement, striving for increased productivity, lower cost, and higher-quality products for the consumer. The newest generation of high-efficiency grinding technologies still lies ahead, and it will bring its own complement of challenges and difficulties to be overcome in order to achieve the higher productivity, better product quality, economic efficiency, and environmental sustainability that the industry is seeking.
An example of one of the newer grinding technologies is Magnetic Fluid Supported Grinding for the grinding of ceramic balls. Prior to the development of this grinding technology, advanced ceramics such as silicon nitride, alumina, zirconia, and silicon carbide were difficult to shape and finish due to their exceptional hardness and brittleness (Zhang). They were finished using diamond abrasive, and conventional polishing of the ceramic balls was quite time-consuming and expensiveùapproximately three to six months, depending on the materials used and the size and quality of the balls (Zhang). Magnetic Fluid Supported Grinding was developed as a modified version of Magnetic Fluid Grinding to overcome some of the problems traditionally associated with grinding ceramic balls (Zhang). In Magnetic Fluid Supported Grinding:
àthe load is deliberately kept very low (~1 N/ball) and smoothed by the flexible magnetic fluid support during the process so that damage to the ball surface is minimized...