TABLE OF CONTENTS Material removal by grinding occurs mainly by a chip formation process, similar to that of other machining methods such as turning or milling, but on a much finer scale. While the cutting-tool geometry and its interaction with the workpiece is well defined for most machining processes, the situation for grinding is not readily discernible. A grinding wheel has a multitude of geometrically undefined cutting points (tools) which are irregularly distributed on its working surface and which are presented to the workpiece at random orientations and positions. Consequently, there is significant variation in the cutting geometry from point to point.
In spite of these complexities, there have been many attempts to analyze chip geometry, beginning almost 90 years ago [1, 2], usually in terms of what occurs at a 'typical' or 'average' cutting point rather than at each separate cutting point. Some of these analyses also attempt to describe the point-to-point variability in cutting geometry by using either statistical models or computer simulations to describe how the non-uniform wheel surface interacts with the workpiece.
This chapter presents mathematical analyses of the cutting geometry during grinding, arising from consideration of the kinematic interactions between the topography of the grains in the wheel surface and the work-piece. Aside from leading to fundamental parameters, such as the depth of cut taken by a cutting point (undeformed chip thickness) and the size of the grinding zone (contact length), it also provides a basis for analyzing the mechanisms of abrasive interactions with the workpiece...
