In industrial applications, metallic components are often replaced by plastics, which are characterised by positive properties such as low density, high dimensional flexibility and corrosion resistance. For applications such as slide rails or rollers, the post-processing of these plastics by grinding is of great importance in order to specifically influence the friction in the tribological system. Due to their low thermal conductivity and high ductility, grinding these materials are particularly challenging, as local melting and premature clogging of the grinding tool can occur.

State of the art scientific studies on plastic grinding are limited. For this reason, in the initial project, single grain scratch tests and grinding tests were carried out with the aim of gaining fundamental insight into material separation mechanisms and identifying a target-oriented process parameter space. The two unreinforced thermoplastics polyoxymethylene copolymer (POM-C) and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) were investigated. Based on the findings, two models were then developed to simplify the engagement of the grainduring grinding of the two thermoplastics.

This project extends the knowledge gained to include the parameter of tool wear. In the previous studies, a frequent dressing process was required to address the early clogging of the tool by material particles. However, frequent dressing has a direct effect on the economic efficiency of grinding processes and is therefore an important topic to be considered. For this reason, this project will carry out fundamental investigations into grinding wheel wear as a function of the machining parameters and the grinding wheel specification. First of all, single grain scratch tests are carried to determine the operating behaviour of the grinding tools with regard to subtractive andadditive wear phenomena on a microscopic level. This is followed by a transfer to grinding wheel wear on a macroscopic level by means of grinding tests. The aim is to define a parameter space of minimum grinding wheel wear. In particular, the clogging is characterised and the influence of the conditioning process on the tool life is analysed. The resulting surface quality of the workpiece is also considered.

Finally, the findings from the investigations into grinding wheel wear are combined with the findings from the initial project. This makes it possible to design a targeted grinding process with low tool wear for machining unreinforced thermoplastics, thus contributing to targeted tool design.