Laser profiling of aluminum oxide grinding wheels

Laser profiling experiments are performed at normal incidence on fine grain medium density aluminum oxide grinding wheels with a pulsed nanosecond 1064nm fiber laser source with maximum pulse fluence 369J=cm2. In order to determine the incision depth and ideal laser pass separation distance, laser exposures are first performed on high purity, low porosity aluminum oxide blocks and subsequently analyzed with an optical profiler operating in confocal mode. This ablation data is then applied to path planning for grinding wheel profiling experiments, with division of the necessary removal depth according to the measured incision depth and ideal pass separation distance. X-ray computed tomography is utilized to determine the resulting profile accuracy as a function of process parameters. Test results indicate a maximum profile accuracy in the order of 200mm; however, in order to approach the accuracy of diamond dressing, some two orders of magnitude lower, it is likely that tangential laser incidence is necessary.