Hey this is REC. It isn't your job to post here. It is just done for
fun and helping people.

That said, I disagree with both of you. I do agree with Halold on
Diamonds. That is why Borazon is used on Steel. Diamonds don't last
and it does have to do with the fact they are carbon and I think it is
because the steel reacts with the carbon.

But I disagree with what was said about silicon Carbide. Silicon
Carbide is harder than aluminum oxide, but is not as strong. So it
works great on lower strength materials as cast iron and very hard
material as carbide. But it does not work well on steel. Does it gum
up the wheels or just wear more rapidly. I am not sure. And most
small bench grinders come with Aluminum oxide wheels. At least I have
never seen a small bench grinder for sale with Silicon Carbide wheels.
Angle grinders come with Aluminum Oxide wheels, but you can get
Silicon Carbide wheels. They are labled as Masonry wheels.

Dan


"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message

Not my job to tell you what is true, but diamonds don't
dissolve and they certainly don't dissolve into steel. The
diamonds in a wheel can shatter (break), they can be pulled
out of the wheel matrix, and they can be smeared with either
the wheel matrix or the material being ground. The latter
is what happens when you say it loads up. Loading depends
on a lot of things but highly important are the coarseness
of the abrasive, the bond of the abrasive, and the speed of
the wheel.

If silicon carbide is so bad on steel, how come most small
bench grinders come with silicon carbide wheels? Granted
that not every abrasive is suitable for every material.
However, you can cut and polish just about everything with
the correct grades of diamond. As another person stated,
diamonds work quite well on steel.

Diamonds don't work well at the high speeds used in many
industrial tools and they certainly won't last long without
a cooling/lubricating fluid. However, speed is often much
more important that cost, but that's no reason to not
understand the physical process. Let me say one last time,
there is no dissolving of diamonds or silicon carbide in the
grinding process.