As fabrication processes evolve and become more challenging with tighter deadlines and quality requirements, abrasive products must evolve to meet those challenges while still making operator health and safety a priority. No matter the workpiece material or the industry, efficient cutting and a long abrasive life are the keys for all successful grinding operations.
For demanding applications, such as hard-to-grind materials, ceramic grains provide top-notch quality for abrasive products. The main benefit of ceramic grains is the self-sharpening feature that exposes new, sharp surfaces as they wear.
Today, the next generation of ceramic abrasive products have been developed that avoid the disadvantages of conventional ceramic abrasives when tackling difficult materials. Weiler Abrasives has introduced an optimal combination of new 3-D precision ceramic grains and an improved adhesion process to provide continuous cutting efficiency and extend the life of the abrasives.
Tiger 3D Max ceramic resin fiber discs can improve grinding performance on carbon steel, but they work best on harder materials, such as stainless steel and other high-alloy steels, Inconel and titanium. The discs are designed for general heavy metal fabrication and industries that require multi-pass welding, such as shipbuilding, oil and gas, tank and pressure vessels, and heavy equipment fabrication.
Staying sharp
Ceramic grains feature thousands of fracture points that break down, extending their life. This unique structure allows the grains to self-sharpen, exposing new, sharp cutting edges as they wear, maintaining sharpness and efficiency. Conversely, traditional ceramic grains can become too dull to fracture, leading to faster wear and poor life.
“With the 3D Max discs, the triangular-shaped grain has many more micro-fracture points than a traditional ceramic grain,” says Jay Owings, district sales manager, Weiler Abrasives. “It has the ability to sharpen itself even more than a typical ceramic grain so it lasts longer and cuts faster – and is phenomenal for the customer.”
The innovative resin fiber discs feature not only precision-shaped ceramic grains but also improved grain retention.
“Part of why the product works so well is the way the triangle-shaped ceramic grain is adhered to the backing,” Owings says. “The way it’s bonded, it stays in place with the flat side toward the paper and the sharp end toward the workpiece. When the tip breaks off, it has multiple sharpened points and it just keeps refracturing until it’s done.”
It really comes down to grain retention, he adds.
“If you’re paying the money for a precision-shaped grain, you want it to stay on the disc as long as possible,” Owings says. “Our discs provide higher grain retention so you’re able to use the ceramic grain all the way down instead of it falling off.”
The ceramic resin fiber discs are available with or without a topcoat. The uncoated option is best-suited for carbon steels while the topcoat version is for stainless steel and other hard materials.
“The topcoat is an extra layer that helps prevent overheating so the ceramic grains last longer for harder materials,” Owings says.
Additionally, the discs help protect parts from heat damage and discoloration, which shows up in harder materials like stainless steel.
“Discoloration can happen if you’re pushing really hard on the weld or the part and the disc isn’t able to cut what you need it to cut,” Owings says. “You create a whole bunch of heat that is transferred to the part, which creates colorization. With the ability of the 3D Max discs to cut so fast, not much heat goes into the part.”
More efficient grinding reduces operator fatigue, as well. Because the ceramic grains refracture and sharpen themselves, the operator does not have to push hard to make sure the disc is staying sharp and cutting. And because the sharp points are always sticking out, loading the disc is reduced, whether working on stainless steel, high-alloy steels or other hard materials. This provides superior durability and fewer changeovers.
Efficient application
Owings says heavy material removal is the perfect use for the 3D Max discs, such as removing large welds. The disc allows the weld to be quickly ground flat to the surface of the two workpieces that are welded together.
The ceramic resin fiber disc is also good for welding applications compared to a typical grinding wheel because it does not create gouging issues.
“A great application example is a customer that puts roller coaster frames together, including big I-beams,” Owings says. “The welds must be extremely flat so the coaster wheels can roll over them. With the resin fiber disc, you can’t gouge the workpieces that are welded together. You can just grind down that weld to the face you need it to be without ruining the rest of the material.”
A new opportunity
Optimizing both the new ceramic grain and improved grain retention, the discs offer customers abrasives with longer life and higher cutting efficiency, especially on harder materials.
“Essentially, if you’re trying to remove material at a high rate of speed with a precision grind, the 3D Max disc is going to perform substantially better,” Owings says. “It’s going to last longer so you aren’t spending as much money. You’re also spending less time on the job and processing material faster. Labor savings, therefore, really go up and you reduce downtime for operators.”
Extensive testing shows the new discs deliver improved abrasive life while providing faster cutting speeds. This is part of the Weiler Consumables Program for improving total operating costs in fabrication operations.
“At Weiler, we like to do a site visit with the customer and see their applications and then make recommendations,” Owings says. “For example, if they’re using a grinding wheel and we think another abrasive is going to be better for them, we’ll do testing on-site and then present the results for what they’re using now and what we think would be better for them.
“It’s really a teaching moment,” he concludes. “We know they’ve been doing this for 30 years, but innovations can help them work better. They’re absolutely open to learning about new products. But it goes beyond that. We’re a strategic partner dedicated to helping customers achieve their goals.”
