Superfinishing wheels

Ceramic grinding wheels are superfinishing tools. We offer abrasive wheels made of pure alumina doped with chromium. Some of the properties of alumina are enhanced by the addition of chromium: The components are even more wear resistant, which ensures machining precision and a long service life. The wheels in our standard product range come in a variety of sizes and shapes, ensuring their usefulness in areas of application ranging from the grinding and honing of hard materials to high-precision machining areas such as watchmaking.  

Why choose chrome-doped alumina ceramic wheels? 

Our abrasive wheels and other ceramic superfinishing tools are made of pure Kyocera alumina doped with chromium. Adding chromium to alumina gives it an easily recognisable red colour and additional properties. 

Pure alumina itself already has many properties. Aluminium oxide is resistant to high temperatures (up to 1950 °C for Kyocera DEGUSSIT AL23) and to thermal shocks in general. This technical ceramic is also known for its very good dimensional stability (even at high temperatures) and its low electrical conduction which makes it an excellent high-performance insulator. In addition, alumina offers good abrasion and wear resistance. This is particularly useful in the manufacture of finishing tools and in providing products with a good service life in general.

The doping of alumina with chromium increases its hardness and wear resistance. This ensures that our products have an even longer operational life and ensures the life of the edges and profiles of our abrasives. These characteristics are particularly important for superfinishing tools. This is because shape stability is essential for good machining. In addition, the durability of these products allows the machinist to make significant savings compared to standard bonded abrasives in which the abrasive grains (corundum, carbide, etc.) are bonded by an organic resin.

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What are the different abrasive wheels we offer? 

Our superfinishing tools (files, grinding stones and wheels) are available with 3 types of grain finish: fine, medium or coarse. These different finishes ensure that different finishes can be achieved during machining and are therefore suitable for different applications. A fine grain finish (from 0.1 μm) is used for applications requiring extremely precise machining such as watchmaking. This is achieved by diamond grinding. Tools with a medium grit finish provide better grip and are suitable for harder materials or slightly less precise tasks. Coarser grit finishes (up to 100 μm) are achieved by adding silicon carbide powder and allow for grinding wheel and file like machining with a very high abrasive power.  

Our standard product range includes cylindrical wheels mounted on shanks. They are made of DEGUSSIT DD57. The diameter of the ceramic part varies from 2 to 10 mm, the diameter of the metal shaft can range from 2.35 mm to 6 mm. These products are available with a fine or medium grain finish.  

We also offer conical cylindrical wheels mounted on rods. These are also made of Kyocera DEGUSSIT DD57 alumina and are available in fine and medium grit finishes. The tip forms a 60° angle. The diameter of the metal part can be between 2.35 mm and 6 mm, the ceramic part can be between 4 mm  and 10 mm. The height of these rods varies from 8 mm to 20 mm.  

Our standard product range also includes profile grinding wheels. They are available in different sizes: internal diameters ranging from 20 mm to 42 mm, external diameters ranging from 75 to 100 mm. We offer them with or without a metal ring.  

Finally, we offer polishing wheels with an inner diameter of 42 mm and an outer diameter of 62 mm. However, our standard range has 3 possible thicknesses for this type of ceramic wheel: 3, 4 or 6 mm.

For what applications are ceramic grinding wheels used?

Our ceramic grinding wheels are generally used for grinding, sharpening or deburring of hard materials (e.g. ceramic grinding wheels). More specifically, grinding wheels can be used for surface treatments in the optical or glass industry. Indeed, the chromium-doped alumina tools are adapted to the machining of glass parts and can be used to grind the edges, the thickness or other.  

Finally, some of our wheels are suitable for precision grinding and sanding applications. Conical wheels, for example, can be used in high-precision fields such as jewellery (in particular for cutting metals to the desired shape) or watchmaking, which requires the machining of small parts with detailed and very precise shapes.