A study on laser touch dressing of electroplated diamond wheels using pulsed picosecond laser sources

An investigation to explore the possibility of touch dressing of electroplated diamond wheels using a pulsed picosecond laser (ps-laser) beam (Yb:YAG) is presented. The laser beam is irradiated on the wheel to cut the diamond grains within a defined grain protrusion without any thermal damage on the nickel bond. The laser parameters were systematically varied to achieve a reliable touch dressing process. The microscopic investigations prove thermal damages neither on the diamond grain nor on the bond. Series of SiC wheel dressing experiments were carried out to compare mechanical touch dressing of the electroplated diamond wheel with laser dressed wheels.