Nickel-based superalloys are commonly used materials in the field of aircraft engines. There are some issues on grinding of nickel-based superalloy

such as serious tool wear and short service life. In this paper

the experiments on grinding of nickel-based superalloy material GH4169 was conducted using three kinds of newly developed corundum abrasive wheels

namely

microcrystalline and single crystalline mixed corundum abrasive wheel with the grain size of 60#

single crystalline corundum abrasive wheel with the grain size of 60#

and single crystalline corundum abrasive wheel with the grain size of 70#. The grinding performance was evaluated from the grinding force

grinding temperature

abrasive wheel wear

and surface roughness. The results showed that there was no obvious difference in abrasive wheel wear and surface roughness when grinding GH4169 material with three kinds of grinding wheels. However

through the comprehensive evaluation of grinding force and grinding temperature

it is found that the single crystalline corundum abrasive wheel with the grain size of 60# has better grinding performance. The grinding ratio of the three kinds of abrasive wheels was in the range of 0.5–3. The surface roughness Ra is less than 0.4μm under normal grinding conditions. Besides

it is found that the abrasive wheel wear (mainly including the crushing and shedding of abrasive grains) is an important reason for the formation of grinding surface defects.