Improved grinding performance of zirconia ceramic using an innovative biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheel inspired by leaf vein

Abstract In this study, a type of the biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheel is designed based on leaf veins. Laser-branched grinding is used as a new structuring method to process zirconia ceramic. The fractal structure of a grinding wheel could improve the grinding performance by increasing the flow efficiency of the coolant. First, a pulse laser was used to ablate a 3-mm-wide channel and 0.3-mm-wide grooves, with respective depths of 1 and 0.15 mm, on a bronze-bonded diamond wheel. Second, a grinding test was performed using the biomimetic fractal-branched and original grinding wheels. The experimental results showed that the normal forces of the biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheels decreased by 12.7%–55.8%, whereas the tangential force decreased by 8.1%–40.3%. The grinding-force ratio also clearly decreased. The biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheel produced a smoother surface. In addition, the coolant could flow into the grinding zone more easily along the channel and grooves, thus improving the wear of the grinding wheel surface. This indicates that the biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheels have better grinding performance than the original wheels owing to their fractal structures. This provides further evidence for a method of constructing biomimetic fractal-branched grinding wheels based on leaf veins. Moreover, different fractal angles showed significant differences in the grinding performance.