Norton Winter, from the grinding expert Saint-Gobain Abrasives, offers an optimized portfolio of its so-called Diamond Wear Parts for areas exposed to wear with polycrystalline diamond (PCD).

In many cases, these are customized wear parts for centreless plunge-cut grinding (PCD-reinforced support rails and steady rests) as well as for cylindrical grinding (PCD-reinforced centres). Compared to conventional carbide wear components, they make grinding operations more productive and result in higher quality.

When it comes to the productivity and stability of industrial grinding processes, it is not only grinding tools that have to deliver top performance. Wear part components that support, hold or fix the workpieces are also exposed to high friction, among other things. Overheating and the associated susceptibility to wear are limiting factors in terms of processing speed, contact pressure and tool life.

In the stressed zones, the workpiece guides are usually made of carbide to withstand the high stress. Norton Winter additionally reinforces these carbide wear parts in the stressed areas with PCD segments up to 1.5 millimetres thick. Thanks to the higher PCD coating, this new generation of workpiece guides noticeably eliminates the primary wear parameters. This combination of production technology and thickness contributes to the durability and resistance of the products. Thanks to the superior physical material properties of diamond, the PCD segments are extremely hard, have a coefficient of friction that is only a quarter to half that of carbide and are extremely wear-resistant.

Norton Winter-Diamond Wear Parts are available as centering points for cylindrical grinding, measuring points and fingers and centerless workpiece support rulers for plunge-cut grinding, as steady rest shoes and systems and as support rails for centerless grinding, for example.

In contrast to conventional carbide-tipped steady rests, which require a separate steady rest for each workpiece diameter, PCD steady rest systems can cover a wide range of diameters thanks to significantly less wear. The versatility of these systems offers savings in both set-up time and tools.

PCD enables higher speeds on the workpiece and higher forces on the steady rest shoes. This leads to increased productivity when grinding axles, bearing components, camshafts and crankshafts, as changeover and set-up times are reduced. In contrast to conventional carbide-tipped steady rests, which require a separate steady rest for each workpiece diameter, PCD steady rest systems can cover a wide range of diameters thanks to significantly less wear. The versatility of these systems offers savings both in terms of set-up time and tools. pb