Grinding wheels are usually manufactured by powder metallurgical processes, i.e. by moulding and sintering. Since this requires the production of special moulds and the sintering is typically carried out in a continuous furnace, this process is time-consuming and cost-intensive. Therefore, it is only worthwhile for medium and large batches. Another influencing factor of the powder metallurgical process route is the high thermal load during the sintering process. Due to their high thermal sensitivity, superabrasives such as diamond or cubic boron nitride are very difficult to process in this way. In this study, a novel and innovative approach is presented, in which superabrasive grinding wheels are manufactured by thermal spraying. For this purpose, flat samples as well as a grinding wheel body were coated by low-pressure (LP) cold gas spraying with a blend of a commercial Cu-Al2O3 cold gas spraying powder and nickel-coated diamonds (8-12 μm). The coatings were examined metallographically in terms of their composition. Afterwards, the grinding wheel was conditioned for the grinding application and the topography was evaluated. This novel process route offers great flexibility in the combination of binder and hard material as well as a costeffective single-part and small-batch production.

Grinding applications for the machining of stone and concrete require composite tools where large diamonds are perfectly embedded into a metallic matrix. With the detonation flame spraying process it is possible to manufacture these superabrasive composites. Excellent embedment of the voluminous superabrasive particles into the matrix coating material can be realized in order to produce high quality composite layers for grinding applications of stone and concrete. In this paper different diamond sizes as well as different volume contents of diamond in matrix are compared. Especially, the influence of particle size on its implantation efficiency is investigated and the influence of process and substrate temperature is analyzed. The thermal sprayed grinding tools are evaluated in the sense of their morphology as well as their grinding abilities. Compared to sintered diamond-bronze samples the results of an adaptively designed grinding test for the machining of concrete are presented and analyzed.

Manufacturing of diamond abrasive wheel has been achieved through kinetic spraying in order to simplify the manufacturing process and improve the mechanical properties. However, size of the initial feedstock diamond particles is reduced by fracturing during the process. Uniform distribution of diamond particles in the coating layer is significantly important for obtaining grinding properties of diamond abrasive wheel. In this study, optimized nickel thin film which is coated around the surface of diamond particle was used to prevent the fracture of diamond particles during spraying and improve the properties. Thickness of the nickel thin film was optimized by ABAQUS 6.7-2 finite element analysis software as 3 µm for 20 µm diamond and bronze particles. Fraction and size distribution of the diamond particles present in the coating were analyzed through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Image analyzer methods.

Superabrasive composite materials are typically used for grinding stone, minerals and concrete. Sintering and brazing are the key manufacturing technologies for grinding tools production. But restricted geometry-flexibility, absence of repair possibilities for damaged tool surfaces as well as difficulties in controlling materials interfaces are main weaknesses of these production processes. Thermal spraying offers the possibility to avoid these restrictions. In this research work a fabrication method based on the detonation flame spraying technology has been investigated to bond large superabrasive particles (150 – 600 µm, needed for grinding minerals and stones) in a metallic matrix. Layer morphology and bonding quality are evaluated with respect to superabrasive material, geometry, spraying- and powder-injection-parameters. Influences of process temperature and possibilities of thermal treatment of MMC-layers are analyzed.